ve to go to the station for a few minutes."

"But, confound it, officer--I have nothing to do with this row."

"That may be true, sir. You can explain all that at the desk. We have to
get at the bottom of this. This is no place to argue."

A moment later the hansom, with a bent axle, was hobbling its way down
the street engineered by bluecoats. Hugh, seeing that it was useless to
remonstrate, sank back in the seat and swore audibly.

"Don't worry about it, Hugh," said a soft voice in his ear. "We can
explain, can't we?"

"You can't explain anything to asses, Grace," he lamented, "especially
if they wear buttons." They lapsed into a mournful, regretful silence.
For five full minutes the hansom wobbled painfully along and then pulled
up in front of a building which Hugh lugubriously recognized as a police
station. "We've got to make the best of it, dear. Did you ever hear of
such beastly luck? I'll see if they won't let me go in alone and square
things. You won't be afraid to sit out here alone for a few minutes,
will you? There's really nothing to be alarmed about. This driver of
ours is in trouble, that's all. We're not to blame. A word or two will
fix everything. I'll be out in a jiffy."

But the bluecoats would not see it that way. Miss Vernon was compelled
to climb down from the seat and march indignantly into the desk
sergeant's presence. Hugh at once began to explain and to expostulate
against what he called an outrage.

"What had we to do with it? The truth is, I don't know what has
happened," he was saying.

"Neither do I," said the bewhiskered sergeant shortly. "Who are you,
sir?"

"These people saw the whole thing, sir. They were in the hansom when
Bernhardt smashed him, an' this felly had ordered him to get to Sherry's
in five minutes if he had to kill some one," explained the officer who
had first addressed Hugh in the crowd.

"That's a lie," cried Hugh. "I said if he had to kill the old plug. Who
is Bernhardt? What the deuce is it all about?"

"I don't believe the gentleman saw the row," said the polite roundsman.
"It happened in the crush there."

"Somebody shall pay for this outrage," exclaimed Ridgeway. "It's beastly
to drag a lady and gentleman into a police station like common criminals
when they--"

"That will do, sir," commanded the sergeant sharply. "You'll talk when
you are asked to, sir."

Turning to the patrolman, he asked, "Has that fellow been taken to the
hospital?"

"The am