Stephen pulled up the collar of his coat as he walked along the platform. Overhead a dim fog clouded the station. He was 30 ______ trains move slowly, throwing off clouds of steam into the cold air. Everything was dirty and smoke-⁠grimed. Stephen thought with revulsion: "What a foul country  — what a foul city!" He had to 31 ______ that his first excited reaction to London  — its shops, its restaurants, its well-⁠dressed attractive women  — had faded. Supposing he were back in South Africa now... To 32 ______ the truth, he felt a quick pang of homesickness. Sunshine  — blue skies  — gardens of flowers. And here  — dirt, grime and endless crowds  — moving, hurrying, jostling.

He got on a train and passed along the corridor, looking for a place. The train was full. It was only three days before Christmas. He 33 ______ to go to his parents for Christmas... And then, suddenly, he caught his breath, looking into a carriage. This girl was different. Black hair, rich creamy pallor, the sad proud eyes of the South... It was all wrong that this girl should be sitting in this train 34 ______ these dull drab looking people. She should be somewhere splendid, not squeezed into the corner of a third class carriage.

He was an observant man. He did not fail to 35 ______ the shabbiness of her black coat and skirt, the cheap quality of her gloves. 36 ______, splendor was the quality he associated with her. He thought: "I’ve got to know who she is and what she’s doing here."