"You are a stranger to London, and it would be most unsafe for you to try to find your way by 'bus. A taxi will only cost you a shilling. Come along, and I will see you safely off."
As the taxi drove off with John Dale, a boy handed Mr. Marshall a telegram:
"The caretaker sent me across with this, sir, as he thought it might be important."
Mr. Marshall nodded, and tore open the envelope.
"Miss Strode here now; can you come at once? Very important.—REDWAY."
Mr. Marshall's face lit up with excitement. The solicitors were only in Chancery Lane, so he decided to walk. Just as he passed the Griffin he found himself on the edge of a large crowd, and he had some difficulty in forcing his way through; so he did not notice that it was caused by an accident. A taxi-cab and a motor-bus had collided, and apparently some one had been injured, for a police ambulance was arriving. When he got clear of the crowd he hurried on, little thinking who it was being lifted on to the ambulance.
* * * * *
John Dale had never been in a taxi-cab before, and when the kindly barrister had shaken his hand and told the driver the address, he lay back with a sigh of satisfaction on the luxurious cushions and resigned himself to enjoy his first drive. It was marvellous to him how the cab managed to dodge in and out of the heavy traffic; more than once the driver stopped with a jerk that nearly sent him off his seat, but he supposed this was the usual experience in London.
Presently he saw a policeman ahead put up his hand, but the driver dashed on across the front of a big omnibus that was coming down at right angles from another street. In a moment there was a crash, he felt himself hurled into space and knew no more until he found himself lying in a strange bed, and saw a white-capped woman bending over him.
"Are you feeling better now?" she asked.