I do not remember all I said to the portly, well-fed, swaggering cockney
upstart; but there was so much in it uncomplimentary to himself and his
driving, that the crowd already assembled cheered, as all crowds will
cheer profane and personal language; and he was glad enough to gather up
his reins and touch his horses, and trot off, without having first gone
through the ceremony of asking whether the girl he had so nearly driven
over was living or dead.
Meantime she had been carried into the nearest shop, whither I
followed her.
I do not know why all the people standing about imagined me to be her
brother, but they certainly did so, and, under that impression, made way
for me to enter the parlour behind the shop, where I found my poor
beauty sitting, faint and frightened and draggled, whilst the woman of
the house was trying to wipe the mud off her dress, and endeavouring to
persuade her to swallow some wine-and-water.
As I entered, she lifted her eyes to mine, and said, "Thank you, sir.
I trust you have not got hurt yourself," so frankly and so sweetly
that the small amount of heart her face had left me passed into her
keeping at once.
"Are you much hurt?" I replied by asking.
"My arm is, a little," she answered. "If I could only get home! Oh! I
wish I were at home."
I went out and fetched a cab, and assisted her into it. Then I asked her
where the man should drive, and she gave me the name of the street which
Miss Blake, when in England, honoured by making her abode. Miss Blake's
number was 110. My charmer's number was 15. Having obtained this
information, I closed the cab-door, and taking my seat beside the
driver, we rattled off in the direction of Brunswick Square.
Arrived at the house, I helped her--when, in answer to my knock, an
elderly woman appeared, to ask my business--into the narrow hall of a
dreary house. Oh! how my heart ached when I beheld her surroundings! She
did not bid me good-bye; but asking me into the parlour, went, as I
understood, to get money to pay the cabman.
Seizing my opportunity, I told the woman, who still stood near the door,
that I was in a hurry, and leaving the house, bade the driver take me to
the top of Chancery Lane.
On the next Sunday I watched No. 15, till I beheld my lady-fair come
forth, veiled, furred, dressed all in her dainty best, prayer-book in
hand, going alone to St. Pancras Church--not the old, but the
new--whither I followed her.
By some freak of fortune, the verger put me into the same pew as that in
which he had just placed her.
When she saw me her face flushed crimson, and then she gave a little
smile of recognition.
I fear I did not much heed the service on that particular Sunday; but I
still felt shy, so shy that, after I had held the door open for her to
pass out, I allowed others to come between us, and did not dare to
follow and ask how she was.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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