The sentences ran out rapidly. She was as agitated as he. They had the little recess to themselves, and their voices scarcely rose above a whisper.
"Then it wasn"t true?" Archie said, with a look of relief.
Nina drew back. She was not prepared to go as far as that. All her life she had sought to be honest in her dealings.
"It hasn"t come actually to that yet," she said under her breath. "But it may--it may."
Somehow it relieved the burden that pressed upon her to be able to speak thus openly to her life-long comrade. But Archie looked grieved, almost shocked.
"What will you do if it does?" he asked.
"I shall leave him," she said, her face growing hard. "I think he understands that."
There was a heavy silence between them. Then impulsively, with pure generosity, Archie spoke.
"Nina," he said, "if you should need--help--of any sort, you know--will you count on me?"
Nina hesitated for a moment.
"Please!" said Archie gently.
She bent her head.
"Thank you," she said. "I will."
VII
THE DELIVERER
Half-an-hour later they went out again into the blazing sunshine.
"What do you think of my hack?" Archie asked, as they drove away westwards. "I got him at Tattersall"s the other day. I haven"t driven him before to-day. He"s a bit jumpy. But I like an animal that can jump, don"t you know."
"I know you do," laughed Nina. "I believe that is purely why you haven"t started a motor yet. They can do everything that is vicious and extraordinary except jump. But do you really like a horse to shy at everything he pa.s.ses? Look at him now! He doesn"t like that hand-cart with red paint."
"He"s an artist," grinned Archie. "It offends his eye; and no wonder.
Don"t be alarmed, though! He won"t do anything outrageous. My man knows how to manage him."
Nina leant back. She was not, as a rule, nervous, but, as Archie"s new purchase was forced protesting past the object of his fright, she was conscious of a very decided feeling of uneasiness. The animal looked to her vicious as well as alarmed.
They got safely past the hand-cart, and a brief interval of tranquillity followed as they trotted briskly down Ludgate Hill.
"He won"t have time to look at anything now," said Archie cheerfully.
The words had scarcely left his lips when the tire of a stationary car they were pa.s.sing exploded with a report like a rifle shot. In a second Archie"s animal leapt into the air, struck the ground with all four hoofs together--and bolted.
"My man"s got him," said Archie. "Sit still! Nothing"s going to happen."
He put his arm in front of Nina and gripped the farther side of the hansom.
But Nina had not the smallest intention of losing her head. During the first few moments her sensations were more of breathless interest than fear. Certainly she was very far from panic.
She saw the roadway before them clear as if by magic before their galloping advance. She heard shouts, warning cries, yells of excitement.
She also heard, very close to her, Archie"s voice, swearing so evenly and deliberately that she was possessed by an insane desire to laugh at him. Above everything else, she heard the furious, frantic rhythm of the flying hoofs before them. And yet somehow inexplicably she did not at first feel afraid.
They tore with a speed that seemed to increase momentarily straight down the thoroughfare that a few seconds before had seemed choked with traffic. They shaved by vans, omnibuses, hand-barrows. Houses and shops seemed to whirl past them, like a revolving nightmare--ever the same, yet somehow ever different. A train was thundering over the bridge as they galloped beneath it. The maddened horse heard and stretched himself to his utmost speed.
And then came tragedy--- the tragedy that Nina always felt that she had known from the beginning of that wild gallop must come.
As they raced on to Ludgate Circus she had a momentary glimpse of a boy on a bicycle traversing the street before them at right angles. Archie ceased suddenly to swear. The reins that till then had been taut sagged down abruptly. He made a clutch at them and failed to catch them. They slipped away sideways and dragged on the ground.
There came a shock, a piercing cry. Nina started forward for the first time, but Archie flung his arms round her, holding her fast. Then they were free of the obstacle and dashing on again.
"Let me see!" she gasped. "Let me see!"
They b.u.mped against a curb and nearly overturned. Then one of their wheels caught another vehicle. The hansom was whizzed half round, but the pitiless hoofs still tore on and almost miraculously the worst was still averted.
Archie"s hold was close and nearly suffocated her; but over his shoulder Nina still managed to look ahead.
And thus looking she saw the most wonderful, and the most terrifying, episode of the whole adventure.
She saw a man in faultless City attire leap suddenly from the footway to the road in front of them. For a breathless instant she saw him poised to spring, and in her heart there ran a sudden, choking sense of anguished recognition. She shut her eyes and cowered in Archie"s arms.
Deliverance was coming. She felt it in every nerve. But how? And by whom?
There came a jerk and a plunge, a furious, straining effort. The fierce galloping ceased, yet they made still for a few yards a halting, difficult progress.
Then they stopped altogether, and she felt the shock of hoofs upon the splashboard.
Another moment and that, too, ceased. They stood still, and Archie"s arms relaxed.
Nina lifted her head and saw her husband hatless in the road, his face set and grim, his hands gripping the reins with a strength that evidently impressed upon the runaway the futility of opposition. In his eyes was a look that made her tremble.
VIII
AFTER THE ACCIDENT
"You had better go home in the car," Wingarde said. "It is waiting for me in Fenwick Street. Mr. Neville, perhaps you will be good enough to accompany my wife. Your animal is tame enough now. Your man will have no difficulty with it, if he is to be found."
"Ah! Exactly!" Archie said.
He looked round vaguely. Nina was leaning on his arm. His man was nowhere to be seen, having some minutes since abandoned a situation which he had discovered to be beyond his powers to deal with.