He was aware then that about him on every side gas was sizzling, and
then, as he recovered slowly his breath, his gaze was drawn to the
great blaze of light in the distance, against which figures were
dimly moving, and from the heart of which the strange voice came. He
heard a woman's voice, then several voices together; then suddenly
the whole scene shifted into focus, his eyes were tied to the light;
the oranges and the gas and the smell of clothes and heated bodies
slipped back into distance--he was caught into the world where he
had longed to be.

He saw that it was a shop--and he loved shops. His heart beat
thickly as his eyes travelled up and up and up over the rows and
rows of shelves; here were bales of cloth, red and green and blue;
carpets from the East, table-covers, sheets and blankets. Behind the
long yellow counters young men in strange clothes were standing. In
the middle of the scene was a funny old woman, her hat tumbling off
her head, her shabby skirt dragging, large boots, and a red nose. It
was from this strange creature that the deep ugly voice proceeded.
She had, this old woman, a number of bales of cloth under her arms,
and she tried to carry them all, but one slipped, and then another,
and then another; she bent to pick them up and her hat fell off; she
turned for her hat and all the bales tumbled together. Jeremy began
to laugh--everyone laughed; the strange voice came again and again,
lamenting, bewailing, she had secured one bale, a smile of cautious
triumph began to spread over her ugly face, then the bales all fell
again, and once more she was on her knees. It was then that her
voice or some movement brought to Jeremy's eyes so vividly the
figure of their old gardener, Jordan, that he turned round to Uncle
Samuel, and suddenly grasping that gentleman's fat thigh, exclaimed