The Creeper

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DUSK had dulled Manhattan. Shaded skyscrapers stood bleak against the darkening sky. Where lights appeared in windows, they were scarcely noticeable, for daylight had not fully faded. Most windows, though, were dark; it was after five o’clock and many offices had closed for the day.

Street lamps shone from the ground below the buildings; blinking electric signs were flashing early messages to homeward-wending workers. Darkness, however, had not yet gained full reign; man-made lights lacked the setting that they required as background for their nightly brilliance.

It was that hour of transition that comes daily to New York — when sunlight no longer shimmers on reflecting spires; yet the sky is still too clear to reflect the feeble, budding glow of the metropolis. Soon observers from high towers would watch the growing sparkle of increasing light; for the present, Manhattan lay beneath a pall.

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