16
NO taxi had ever crawled from Chelsea to Hampstead so slowly as that which Bernard Thring had hailed in King's Road. It seemed as old as its driver, who must have served his apprenticeship in a "growler" before taxis were invented.
At last they were in the very street, and he had not thought what to say to the girl who had received him so coldly when he saw her last. He was free now to tell her everything, and that would help him through. It did not occur to him that Amy Winter, who had unwittingly brought so much trouble upon them both, might have taken that duty upon herself. Financially, the interview was to cost him dear, for in his preoccupation he dashed from the taxi to the front door without stopping to pay the driver, who was quite content to wait while his clock was ticking
