Its surface was badly broken
up--apparently it had been concrete--and grass grew in every crack.
Nevertheless, it was a bona-fide road.
For the first time in a long while, Rolla was temporarily off her guard.
The doctor was able to impress her with the idea of "Follow this road!"
and to his intense gratification the woman started away from the river
at once.
Soon the novelty of the thing wore off enough for her to concern herself
with fresh food. She discovered plenty of berries, also three kinds of
nuts; all were strange to her, yet she ate them without question, and
suffered nothing as a result, so far as the doctor could see.
The sun was less than an hour from the horizon when the road, after
passing over a slight rise, swung in a wide arc through the woods and
thus unveiled a most extraordinary landscape. It was all the more
incredible because so utterly out of keeping with what Rolla had just
passed through. She had been in the wilderness; now--
A vast city lay before her. Not a hundred yards away stood a low, square
building of some plain, gray stone. Beyond this stretched block upon
block--mile upon mile rather--of bona-fide residences, stores and much
larger buildings. It is true that the whole place was badly overgrown
with all sorts of vegetation; yet, from that slight elevation, there was
no doubt that this place was, or had been, a great metropolis.
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