Part 52 (1/2)

”Downs.h.i.+re Hill,” said Alex. ”No. 101.”

”Downs.h.i.+re 'Ill? Where's that?”

”I don't know,” said Alex, frightened. She wondered if the man was drunk, and prepared to pull her bag out of the cab again.

”'Alf a minute.”

He called out something unintelligible to another driver, and received an answer.

”Downs.h.i.+re 'Ill's N.W.,” he then informed her. ”Out 'Ampstead w'y.”

”Yes,” said Alex. ”Can't you take me there?”

He looked at her shabby clothes and white, frightened face.

”I'd like to see my fare, first, if _you_ please,” he said insolently.

Alex was too much afraid of his making a scene to refuse.

”How much will it be?”

”Seven and sixpence, Miss.”

She pulled two half-crowns out of her purse. It was all she had left.

”This is all the change I have,” she told him in a shaking voice. ”They will pay the rest when I get there.”

He muttered something dissatisfied, but put the coins into his pocket.

Alex climbed into the cab.

It jolted away very slowly.

The rain was falling fast, and das.h.i.+ng against the windows of the cab.

Alex glanced out, but the streets through which they were driving were all unfamiliar to her. It seemed a very long way to Downs.h.i.+re Hill.

She began to wonder very much how Barbara would receive her, and how she could make clear to her the long, restless agony that had led her to obtain release from her vows. Would Barbara understand?

Letters had been very inadequate, and although Barbara had written that Alex had better come to her for a while if she meant to return to England, she had given no hint of any deeper comprehension.

”We must make plans when we meet,” she had written at the end of the letter.

Alex wondered with a sense of apprehension what those plans would be.

She had for so long become accustomed to being treated as a chattel, without volition of her own, that it did not occur to her that she would have any hand in forming her future life.

Presently she became conscious that the rain had stopped, and that the atmosphere was lighter. She let down the gla.s.s of the window nearest her, and saw, with surprise, that there was a rolling expanse of green, with a number of willow-trees, on one side of the road. It did not look like London.

Then the cab turned a corner, and Alex saw ”Downs.h.i.+re Hill” on a small board against the wall.