Blyth, was
more barbarously and extravagantly eccentric than all the rest of his
notions put together.
Instead of going home at once, when he arrived at Kirk Street, he
stopped at certain shops in the neighborhood to make some purchases
which evidently had reference to the guest of the evening; for the
first things he bought were two or three lemons and a pound of loaf
sugar. So far his proceedings were no doubt intelligible enough; but
they gradually became more and more incomprehensible when he began to
walk up and down two or three streets, looking about him attentively,
stopping at every locksmith's and ironmonger's shop that he passed,
waiting to observe all the people who might happen to be inside them,
and then deliberately walking on again. In this way he approached, in
course of time, a very filthy little row of houses, with some very
ill-looking male and female inhabitants visible in detached positions,
staring out of windows or lingering about public-house doors.
Occupying the lower story of one of these houses was a small grimy
shop, which, judging by the visible stock-in-trade, dealt on a much
larger scale in iron and steel ware that was old and rusty, than in
iron and steel ware that was new and bright.
Pages:
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477