The doomed lovers must have been born under an unhappy star.

At first I could not tell what this new sound was, nor whence it came, and now it seemed a little noise close by, and now a great noise in the distance. And then it grew nearer and more defined, and in a moment I knew it was the sound of voices talking.

The place felt more like a crime lord's den than anything else.

She had found her niche by being truant from school, giving people a bad time, and basically giving her parents' strict moral values a good, strong kick in the teeth.