A Damsel in Distress

hat's that!"

h obliged," s

pleasure,"

s goodfortune up to the present. Small details which, when he had firstcaught sight of her, distance had hidden from his view,

r hair. Her chin was square anddetermined, but its resoluteness was contradicted by a dimple andby the pleasant good-humour of the mouth; and a further softeningof the face was effected by the nose, which seemed to have st

anddefensive, about this girl with which he could not imagine any manventuring to take liberties. The gold-brown eyes, as they met hisnow, were friendly and smiling, but he could imagine them freezinginto a stare baleful enough and haughty enough to quell such aperson as the silk-hatted young man with a single glance.

be summing him up, weighing him. That the inspection provedsatisfactory was shown by the fact that at the end of this periodshe smi

wondering what it's

what George was wonde

afraid I can't tell you.""But what am I to say to the cabman?""I don't know. What do men usually say to cabmen?""I mean he will feel very hurt if I don't give him a fullexplanation of all th

steal your cab. Where were you going?""I was going back to my hotel. I came out

e matter?" a

cket home.""Any use asking where that is?""None, I'm afraid.""I wasn't going to, of course."

course, if you think I ought to be economical, I'll gothird-class. That would only be five shillings. Ten-and-six is thefirst-class fare. So you see the place I want to get to is twohours from London.""Well, that's something to know.""But not much, is it?""I think I had

out it. I can't help being mysterious.""I didn't mean that.""It sounded as if you did. Well, who is my benefactor?""My name is G

" said

did happen? You must remember I couldn't see a thing exceptyour back, and I could only hear indistinctly.""Well, it started by a man galloping up and insisting that you

happened then?""I reasoned with the man, but didn't seem to soothe him, andfinally he made a grab for the door-handle, so

couldn't see it. But h

ink of it?""It just came t

e girl's face. The smile died

have performed automatically!""You might have been some awful bounder. Or, what would have beenalmost worse, a slow-witted idiot who would have stopped to askquestions before doing anything. To

n?""Oh, it wasn't anything like that. It was much, much worse. But Imustn't go on like this. It isn't fair on you." Her eyes lit upagain with the old shining smile. "I know you have no curiosityabout me, but still there's no knowing whether I might not arousesome if I went on piling up the mystery. And the silly part is thatreally th

th if I told you about it."

e have that money, would you mind rushing off andgetting it, because I must hurry. I can just catch a good train,and it's hours to the next.""Will you wait here? I'll be back in a moment.""Very well."The last George

unforeseen calamity the commis

again andtold the man to drive to Waterloo."George could make nothing of it. He stood there in silentperplexity, a

scarlet-faced young man had sprung. One glance told George all. The huntw

having regarded theirlate skirmish as a decisive battle from which there would be norallying, he had overlooked the possibility of this annoying andunnecessary person following them in another cab--a task which, inthe congested, slow-movin

said the sto

ing him up and down, hecould find no point about him that gave him the least pleasure,with the single exceptio

ou thought you'd given me theslip! Well

Someone's beenfeeding you meat."The young man bub

esticu

r?"At this extraordinary remark the

an as a Lothario, a pursuer ofdamsels. That the other could possibly have any right on his sidehad

Where is she?"George was still endeavo

agined himself unassailablyin the right, an

h threatened her--presumably through the medium of this man,brother or no brother--checked him. He did not know what it was al

of the case, he was her accom

hat you're talkin

ook a large, glove

thing voice slid into the heated scene lik

ne thumb restedeasily on his broad belt. The fingers of the other hand caressedlightly a moustache that had caused more heart-bur

treat them. His voice,when he replied, had precisely the corr

elp himout of his difficulties which made the constable his ally on thespot. "I was standing here, when this man suddenly mad

ly. "This sort o' thingwon't do, 'ere, you k

e Olympian brow. Jove re

tal. "'Ullo! 'Ullo! 'Ul-lo!"His fingers fell on Percy's shoulder again, but thi

!"Madness came upon the stout young man. Common prudence and the

riggled round and punched the

ing had happened in such an incredibly briefspace of time. One moment, it seemed to George, he was the centreof a nasty row in one of the most public spots in London; the next,the focus had shifted; he had ceased

Haymarket, followed bya growing and increasingl

"is the middle of a perfect