he asked eagerly.
"My taxi's broken down and I'm afraid I'll miss my train."

The woman smiled her sympathy. She had a delightful smile.

"How awful for you! But I'm not going anywhere near there. I'm so sorry
I can't help."

The taxicab slid away and Nan stood once more forlornly watching the
stream go by. The precious moments were slipping past, and no one in the
world looked in the least as if they were going to Paddington. The
driver, superbly unconcerned, lit up a cigarette, while Nan stood in the
middle of the road, which seemed suddenly to have almost emptied of
traffic.

All at once a taxi sped up the wide road with only a single suit-case
up-ended in front beside the chauffeur. She planted herself directly in
its path, and waved so frantically that the driver slowed up, although
with obvious reluctance. Someone looked out of the window, and with a
vague, troubled surprise Nan realised that the cab's solitary passenger
was of the masculine persuasion. But she was far beyond being deterred
by a mere detail of that description.

"Are you going to Paddington?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yes, I am," came the answer. The speaker's voice had a slight,
well-bred drawl in it, reminiscent of the public school. "Can I do
anything for you?"

"You can drive me there, if you will," she replied, with the bluntness of
despair. "My taxi's broken down."

"But with pleasure."

The man was out of his own cab in an instant, and held the door open
while she paid her fare and ordered her luggage to be transferred. The
driver showed no very energetic appreciation of the idea; in fact, he
seemed inclined to dispute it, and, at the end of her patience, Nan
herself made a grab at her hat-box with the intention of carrying it
across to the other taxicab. In the same moment she felt it quietly
taken from her and heard the same drawling voice addressing her
recalcitrant driver.

"Bring that suit-case across and look sharp about it."

There was a curious quality of authority in the lazy voice to which the
taxi-man responded in spite of himself, and he proceeded to obey the
order with celerity. A minute later the transference was accomplished
and Nan found herself sitting side by side in a taxi with an absolute
stranger.

"He was a perfect _beast_ of a driver!" was her first heart-felt
ejaculation.

The man beside her smiled.

"I'm sure he was--a regular 'down-with-everything' type," he replied.

She stole a