40 train, and we shall then--"
Eustace read no more. Sick and faint with an extraordinary revulsion of
feeling, he leant against the door of the masonic shop, which promptly
opened in the most hospitable manner, depositing him upon his back on the
floor of the establishment. In a second he was up, and had bounded out of
the shop with such energy that the shopman was on the point of holloaing
"Stop thief!" It was exactly five o'clock, and he was not more than a
quarter of a mile or so from Waterloo Station. A hansom was sauntering
along in front of him, he sprang into it. "Waterloo, main line," he
shouted, "as hard as you can go," and in another moment he was rolling
across the bridge. Five or six minutes' drive brought him to the station,
to which an enormous number of people were hurrying, collected together
partly by a rumour of what was going on, and partly by that magnetic
contagion of excitement which runs through a London mob like fire through
dry grass.
He dismissed the hansom, throwing the driver half-a-crown, which,
considering that half-crowns were none too plentiful with him, was a rash
thing to do, and vigorously shouldered his way through the crush till he
reached the spot where the carriage and pair were standing.
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