"Well then, Mr. Farrell," said I, "I'm ready to do this much for you.--We'll find a taxi here and now for the Whips' Offices and take their advice. Having taken it, I am willing to drive straight back to your Committee Rooms with the Head Office's decision." The man's nerves were anywhere. He clung to me for counsel--for mere company--as he would have clung to anybody. So we found a taxi and climbed in, all three. But I did not reach the Whips' Office that day. There was a hold-up as we neared the bridge, and we to came a dead stop. I set it down to some ordinary block of traffic, and with a touch of annoyance: for Farrell by this time was arguing himself out as a victim of circumstances, and with a feebleness of sophistry that tried the patience. I remember saying "The long and short of it is, you've made a fool of yourself. . . . Why on earth can't this fellow get a move on?"--As though he had heard me, just then the driver slewed about and shot us back a queer half-humorous glance through the glass screen. Jimmy, lolling crossways on one of the little let-down seats with his leg across the other, caught the glance, sprang up and thrust his head out at the window. "Hallo!" said he. "Suffragettes? Dog-fight? . . . Pretty good riot, anyhow,"--and the next moment he was out on the roadway. I craned up for a look through the screen, and stepped out in his wake. Some thirty yards ahead of us, close by the gates of the South London College, a dense crowd blocked the thoroughfare. It was a curiously quiet crowd, but it swayed violently under some pressure in the centre, and broke as we watched, letting through a small body of police with half a dozen men and youths in firm custody. My wits gave a leap, and my heart sank on the instant. I stepped to the taxi door and commanded Farrell to tumble out. "Here's more of your mess-work, unless I'm mistaken," said I. "Mine?" He looked at me with a dazed face. "Mine?" he quavered. "Oh, but what has happened? . . . There would seem to be some conspiracy. . . ." "Yes, you interfering ass. Out with you, quick! and we'll talk later." I turned my shoulder on him as I handed the driver his fare. "Now follow and keep close to me."