He heard a sobbing, and found two scared little girls crouched by a railing.
These children became silent at the near sound of feet.

He tried to console them, but they were very still until he left them.

Then as he receded he could hear them sobbing again.
Presently he found himself at the foot of a staircase and near a wide opening.

He saw a dim twilight above this and ascended out of the blackness into a street of moving ways again.

Along this a disorderly swarm of people marched shouting.