By good fortune he had one. She took off her hat, and gave him a few business-like directions. His fingers trembled as he tried to obey her; but he had the practical sense that the small vicissitudes and hardships of travel often develop in a man, and between them they adjusted a rough but tolerable bandage.
Then she leant against the side of the cab, and he thought she would have swooned. There was a pause, during which he watched the quivering lines of the lips and nostrils and the pallor of the cheeks with a feeling of dismay.
But she did not mean to faint, and little by little her will answered to her call upon it. Presently she said, with eyes shut and brow contracted:
"I trust the others are safe. Oh! what a failure—what a failure! I am afraid I have done Aldous harm!"
The tone of the last words touched Tressady deeply. Evidently she could hardly restrain her tears.
"They were not worthy you should go and speak to them," he said quickly.
"Besides, it was only a noisy minority."
She did not speak again till they drew up before the house in the Mile
End Road. Then she turned to him.
"I was to have stayed here for the night, but I think I must go home. Aldous might hear that there had been a disturbance. I will leave a message here, and drive home."
"I trust you will let me go with you. We should none of us be happy to think of you as alone just yet. And I am due at the House by eleven."
She smiled, assenting, then descended, leaning heavily upon him in her weakness.