By the track leading to the inn the high road made a right angle
turn to the right. This turn they took, leaving the Mill House
away in the distance to the left of them, and, after skirting the
fen for some way and threading a maze of side roads, presently
debouched on a straight, broad road.
Dazed and shaken by her experiences, Barbara lost all count of
time, but after running for some time through the open country in
the gray light of dawn, they reached the edge of those long
tentacles of bricks and mortar which London thrusts out from her
on every side. The outer fringes of the metropolis were still
sleeping as the great car roared by. The snug " High Streets,"
the red brick "Parades" and "Broadways," with their lines of
houses with blinds drawn, seemed to have their eyes shut, so
blank, so somnolent was their aspect.
With their lamps alight, the first trams were gliding out to
begin the new day, as the big car swiftly traversed the eastern
suburbs of London. To Barbara, who had had her home at Seven
Kings, there was something familiar about the streets as they
flickered by; but her powers of observation were dulled, so great
was the sense of helplessness that weighed her down.
High-booted scavengers with curious snake-like lengths of hose on
little trolleys were sluicing the asphalt as the limousine
snorted past the Mansion House into Poultney and Cheapside.
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