soot-greasy

Updated: July 22, 2026

And so it was that Hattie's wedding day came up like thunder. To the swift hiss of rain down soot-greasy window panes and through a medley of the smells of steam off wet overcoats and a pale stench of fish, a judge turned rather tired Friday-afternoon eyes upon the prisoner at the bar, a smallish man in a decent-enough salt-and-pepper suit and more salt than pepper in his hair and mustache.

Fannie Hurst - The Vertical City