Vidal Gore — Eighteen Seventy [456]

I left him in the vestibule and made my way out into the cold darkness of Gramercy Park. The gas lamps had been lit and I found their familiar hissing a comforting note in this cold, strange city where I feel suddenly a perfect alien, entirely out of place and time. — Vidal Gore, Eighteen Seventy, 456

Note

The closing lines poignantly capture the protagonist’s sense of dislocation and yearning for familiarity amidst unfamiliar surroundings, using sensory details to evoke emotions of nostalgia and alienation.