Edward licked his lips. “Yes, she is a very wise lady,” he murmured in response.
Mr. Seeley, however, was not listening. “’S hot,” he grumbled, squinting significantly at the hazy sky, in which the sullen rays of the sun struggled against the smoke from great factory stacks, house chimneys, railroad engines, steamships down at the mouth of the Thames, and innumerable garbage fires. The man loosened his collar with a pair of fingertips and made a point of wiping his brow. “I say,” he said, as if suddenly struck by the idea, “let’s step into the shade, oh…” Rather disingenuously, it appeared, he looked around without seeing, then returned his gaze to the mouth of the nearby alley at which he had started. “Oh, say there.” He angled his head at the narrow opening of shadowed brick.
“Well, if
