ABSTRACT
FROM the dark side street she stepped into a blaze of light. The centre of the world, the wonderful city into whose mighty heart were gathered all the derelicts of mankind, together with the greatest wealth, the noblest intellect, the finest benevolence, and the vilest wickedness that humanity can produce, lay flashing out its splendours and its squalors under a starlit April sky; even its mire shone under the feet of the horses that still held some place amid the mechanical vehicles that throbbed and panted about the streets and squares. Light, life, noise, movement, bustle, gaiety, anxiety, excitement swayed the crowd that streamed from theatre to restaurant, that laughed and talked, walked and ran, drove and dawdled over pavement and road, as if midnight were the middle of some garish day; for rest and sleep seemed the last things possible in the minds of this kaleidoscopic throng. It was a sight to command and fascinate, to thrill and sadden, to stimulate speculation and profound thought. Karyl Pendragon felt the charm and mystery of it as she made her way, with a firm and even step, through the brilliant circle that was like a wheel whose spokes led, in their several directions, to lavish luxury, direst poverty, or the happier mean of comfort and content.
