“I think,” he said quietly, “that it will be better for you to walk away while we are still undisturbed. If you will allow me, I will accompany you to the gates of the park. If I may be permitted to say so, it is hardly fitting that a lady in your position, carrying so much property about with her, should be strolling around here unattended.”
His tones were so kind and so cheering, and suggested such a delicate sense of humour at the whole situation, that Lady Kathleen smiled back at him.
“At least,” she said, and now she almost laughed herself, “you are a very sturdy escort.”
Westerham said not another word except, “This is the way,” and then, guiding the girl through the trees, he reached the main path and helped Lady Kathleen to step over the low iron railing; thence he piloted her through a throng of quite incurious people to Hyde Park Corner.
She walked beside him without saying anything at all, apparently satisfied to be in his charge; and she made no demur when, on reaching the street, Westerham hailed a passing taxicab.
The man drew up at the kerb, and opening the door, Westerham assisted the girl to enter.
Then he leant forward into the darkness of the cab and said earnestly:
“I trust you will permit me to see you safely on your road. Apparently one never knows what may happen in London, and, believe me, I have no wish you should suffer a second adventure such as the one through which you have just passed.”
“Thank you,” said Lady Kathleen in a scarcely audible voice. “If you will see me as far as Trafalgar Square I shall be glad.”