From Noughts and Crosses: Stories, Studies and Sketches. 1905 It was not so much a day as a burning, fiery furnace. The roar of 's traffic reverberated under a sky of coppery blue; the pavements threw out waves of heat, thickened with the reek of restaurants and perfumery shops; and dust became cinders, and the wearing of flesh a weariness. Streams of sweat ran from the bellies of 'bus-horses when they halted. Men went up and down with unbuttoned waistcoats, turned into drinking-bars, and were no sooner inside than they longed to be out again, and baking in an ampler oven. Other men, who had given up drinking because of the expense, hung about the fountains in and listened to the splash of running water. It was the time when is supposed to be empty; and when those who remain in town feel t