To Charnock's surprise the good-natured gentleman precipitately sprang down the steps and began to walk rapidly away. Charnock was sufficiently human and therefore sufficiently perverse to become at once convinced that although there were others passing, this reluctant man was the only person in the world who could and must help him from his predicament.
So he leaned yet farther out of the cab.
"Hi, you sir!" he shouted, "you who are running away!"
The words had an electrical effect. The man of the agreeable countenance stopped suddenly, and so stood with his back towards Charnock while gently and thoughtfully he nodded his head. It seemed to Charnock that he might perhaps be counting over the voices with which he was familiar.
"Well," cried Charnock, who was becoming exasperated, "my dear sir, am I to wait for you all day?"
The street was populous with the morning traffic of a business quarter. Curious people stopped and attracted others. In a very few moments a small crowd would have formed. The stranger thereupon came slowly back to the hansom, showing a face which was no longer agreeable. He set a foot upon the step of the cab, and fixed a blue and watchful eye upon Charnock.
"I am afraid," said the latter, with severity, "that my first impression of you was wrong."
An indescribable relief was expressed by the other, but he spoke with surliness.
"You mistook me for someone else?"
"I mistook your disposition for something else," Charnock affably corrected. "I expected to find you a person of great good-nature."