Come in, he says, a-trying to drag her back; but she hangs away, calling out Help! and says suthin about willain, and baseness, and never. I couldnt ear all she says acause of the wind, though I pulls up short in front of the house: a large one it was, with a light in the hall, and I could see as the man was quite a swell, in a bobtail coat and open wesket same as they wears to go to the Hoprer. Well, when she acts like that he makes no more ado but fetches her a wipe across the mouth with his hand, quite savage I mean hits her and then runs in and bangs the door arter him, leaving that poor thing out in the bitter night, in a low dress, and without a bit of bonnet.
She gives a sort of ketch or sob like, and then says to me, in an ordering sorter way
Open the door, man!
I jumps down in a minute, and she gets in and tells me to drive to a street near Eaton Square. So I shuts the door and drives off, wondering what it all meant, and feeling uncommonly as if I should have liked to give that feller one for hisself, for it was a thing I never could bear to see, any one strike a woman.
Well, we gets to the street, and then I turns round to arst her the number, when just as we passed a lamp-post I could see in at the window as she was down on the floor. You might have knocked me off the box with a wisp.
I pulls short up, jumps down, and opens the door; and there she was with her hair down, and all of a heap like at the bottom of the keb. The light shined well in, and as I lifted her on to the seat I could see as she was young, and good-looking, and well dressed, and with a thick gold chain round her neck.
Just then up comes a pleeceman, as big as you please, and Whats up? he says. Why, shes fainted, I says.
Looks suspicious, he says, a-hying me sideways.
Praps it does, I says, for I began to feel nasty at his aggrawating suspicions. Howsomever, I tells him then where Id picked her lip, and all the
rest of it, and he looked nation knowing for a minute, and then he says
Jump up and drive to the nearest doctors; and Ill get in and hold her up. But whats this here? he says, laying hold of her hand such a little white un, with rings on, and with the fingers tight round a little bottle. Drive on, he shouts, quite fierce, an I bangs to the door, and forgot all about the wet.
I soon comes across one o them red brandy balls a-sticking in a lamp, and I says to myself, Thats English for salts and senny, I says; and then I pulls up, ketches hold of surgery and night bell, and drags away like fun.
Then the door was opened, and we carried her in no weight, bless you and lays her on the sofy. Doctor comes in his dressing-gown, takes hold of her hand, holds it a minute, and then lets it fall again. Then he holds his watch-case to her mouth, and you could hear the thing go tic-tic quite loud, for there wasnt another sound in the room; and then he lifts up one of her eyelids, and you could see her great black eye a-staring all wild and awful like, as if she was seeing something in the other world. Then all at once she gave a sort of shivering sigh, and I could see that it was all over.
Doctor takes the bottle from the pleeceman, smells it, shakes his head, and gives it back again. Then they two has a talk together, and it ends in us lifting the poor thing back into the keb, and me driving back to where we started from; pleeceman taking care to ride on the box this time. And what a set out there was when we got there! Fust comes the suvvant, after wed been ringing amost half an hour. She looked as if just shook out of bed; and there she stood, with her eyes half-shut, a-shiverin and starin, with the door-chain up. As soon as we made her understand what was the matter, off she cuts; and then down comes the swell in his dressen-gownd. Fust he runs out and looks in the keb; then he rushes upstairs again; then there was a dreadful skreeching, and a lady comes a-tearing down in her night-gownd, and with her hair all a-flying. Wed carried the poor thing into the hall then, and she throws herself on her, shrieking out, Ive killed her! Ive killed her! kissing her frantic-like all the time. The swell had come down after her, looking as white as a sheet; and he gets the lady away, while pleeceman and me carries my fare into a bedroom.
Pleeceman took my number, and where I lived; and swell comes and gives me two half-crowns; and then I took off and left em, feeling quite sick and upset, and glad enough to get away.
There was an inquest after, of course, and I had to go and give evidence; but somehow or other precious little came out, for they kep it all as snug as they could, and the jury brought it in Temporary Insanity.
Pull up here, sir? Yes, sir. Star office, sir? Phew! didnt know as you was in the noosepaper way, sir, or shouldnt have opened my mouth so wide. Eighteenpens, sir; thanky, sir.
Co-o-o-me orn, will yer? were the words which faded away in the Fleet-street roar.
Chapter Fourteen. A Wheel of Misfortune
Its only a short journey, you know London and Hull but it takes a deal of care, and precious rough the weather is sometimes; for our east coast aint a nice one, any more than its easy working going up the Humber, or making your way into the Thames; and then, amongst all the shipping most as far as London Bridge, theres so many small boats about, and so much in-and-out work and bother, that at times one gets