site bank,
with little specks of light, offered a gloomy and depressing prospect,
and that the lapping of the water among the black barges which were
moored at his feet in a dense mass was the dreariest sound he had ever
heard. He turned away with a shudder, and walked quickly up the narrow
lane left by the timber, calling himself a fool for his journey.
And just as he was reaching the narrow street by which he had come he
was startled to find a girl's face peering down at him from the top of a
pile of timber.
Max stopped, with an exclamation. In an instant the girl withdrew the
head, which was all he had seen of her, and he heard her crawling back
quickly over the timber, out of his sight.
Although he had seen her for a moment only, Max had been chilled to the
bone by the expression of the girl's face. Ghastly white it had looked
in the feeble light of a solitary gas lamp some distance away, and
wearing an expression of fear and horror such as he had never seen on
any countenance before. He felt that he must find out where she had
gone, his first belief being that she was a lunatic. Else why should she
have disappeared in that stealthy manner, with the look of fear stamped
upon her face? There was nothing in the look or manner of Max himself to
alarm her; and if she had been in need of help, why had she not called
to him?
He got a footing upon the timber and looked over it. But he could see
nothing more of the girl. Beyond the stacks were some low-roofed
outbuildings and the back of a shut-up warehouse. Reluctantly he got
down, and passed into the narrow street. Not willing to leave at once a
neighborhood which he had come so far to investigate, he turned, after
going some dozen yards down the street, into a narrow passage on his
left hand which led back to the river.
The width between the high walls and the warehouses on either side was
only some five feet. It was flagged with stone, very dark. About ten
yards from the entrance there was a small warehouse, on the left hand,
on which hung an old board, announcing that the building was "To Let."
And next door to this was a dingy shop, with grimy and broken windows,
the door of which was boarded up. This shop, also, was "To Be Let," and
the board in this case had been up so long that the announcement had to
be divined rather than read.
Rather struck by the dilapidated appearance of these two buildings in a
place where he supposed land must be valuable, Max p
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