of waiting, or have found it impossible
to keep a position on the pavement. Drawing near to the top of Regent
Street, she hoped he might be there. And there he was, jovially
perspiring; he saw her between crowded heads, and crushed through to her
side.

CHAPTER 8

'Where are your friends?'

'That's more than I can tell you.'

They laughed together.

'It's a miracle we've been able to meet,' said Crewe. 'I had to thrash a
fellow five minutes ago, and was precious near getting run in. Shall we
go the Tottenham Court Road way? Look out! You'd better hold on to my
arm. These big crossings are like whirlpools; you might go round and
round, and never get anywhere. Don't be afraid; if any one runs up
against you, I'll knock him down.'

'There wouldn't be room for him to fall,' said Nancy, wild with
merriment, as they swayed amid the uproar. For the first time she
understood how perilous such a crowd might be. A band of roisterers,
linked arm in arm, were trying to break up the orderly march of
thousands into a chaotic fight. The point for which Crewe made was
unattainable; just in front of him a woman began shrieking hysterically;
another fainted, and dropped into her neighbour's arms.

'Don't get frightened!'

'Not I! I like it. It's good fun.'

'You're the right sort, you are. But we must get out of this. It's worse
than the pit-door on the first night of a pantomime. I must hold you up;
don't mind.'

His arm encircled her body, and for a moment now and then he carried
rather than led her. They were safe at length, in the right part of
Oxford Street, and moving with the stream.

'I couldn't find your brother,' Crewe had leisure to say; 'and I didn't
see Fanny French. There weren't many people about just then, either.
They must have gone off before I came.'

'Yes, they must. It doesn't matter.'

'You have some life in you.' He gazed at her admiringly. 'You're worth
half a million of the girls that squeak and wobble when there's a bit of
rough play going on.'

'I hope so. Did you set me down as one of that kind?'

Nancy found that her tongue had achieved a liberty suitable to the
occasion. She spoke without forethought, and found pleasure in her
boldness.

'Not I,' Crewe answered. 'But I never had a chance before now of telling
you what I thought.'

Some one in front of them ignited a Bengal light and threw it into the
air; the flame flashed across Nancy's features, and fell upon the hat of
a m