There was a curious quality of authority in the lazy voice to which the taxi-man responded in spite of himself, and he proceeded to obey the order with celerity. A minute later the transference was accomplished and Nan found herself sitting side by side in a taxi with an absolute stranger.
"He was a perfect beast of a driver!" was her first heart-felt ejaculation.
The man beside her smiled.
"I'm sure he was—a regular 'down-with-everything' type," he replied.
She stole a veiled glance at him. His face was lean, with a squarish jaw, and the very definitely dark brows and lashes contrasted oddly with his English-fair hair and blue-grey eyes. In one eye he wore a horn-rimmed monocle from which depended a narrow black ribbon.
"I can't thank you enough for coming to my rescue," said Nan, after her quick scrutiny. "It was so frightfully important that I should catch this train."
"Was it?"
Somehow the brief question compelled an explanation, although it held no suggestion of curiosity—nothing more than a friendly interest.
"Yes. I have a concert engagement to-morrow, and if I missed this train
I couldn't possibly make my connection at Exeter. I change on to the
South-Western line there."
"Then I'm very glad I sailed in at the crucial moment. Although you'd have been able to reach your destination in time for the concert even had the worst occurred to-day. You could have travelled down by an earlier train to-morrow; if everything else had failed."