The Hermit of Far End | Page 3

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Etext prepared by Dagny, [email protected] and John Bickers,
[email protected]

THE HERMIT OF FAR END
By Margaret Pedler

First Published 1920.

PROLOGUE
It was very quiet within the little room perched high up under the roof
of Wallater's Buildings. Even the glowing logs in the grate burned

tranquilly, without any of those brisk cracklings and sputterings which
make such cheerful company of a fire, while the distant roar of
London's traffic came murmuringly, dulled to a gentle monotone by the
honeycomb of narrow side streets that intervened between the gaunt,
red-brick Buildings and the bustling highways of the city.
It seemed almost as though the little room were waiting for something
--some one, just as the woman seated in the low chair at the hearthside
was waiting.
She sat very still, looking towards the door, her folded hands lying
quietly on her knees in an attitude of patient expectancy. It was as if,
although she found the waiting long and wearisome, she were yet quite
sure she would not have