him so simply and impartially as he seems to do.
Obscuring this extremely interesting problem of a woman growing to
man-like sense of responsibility in her social consequences, is the
dramatic proclivity that makes him see all this merely as something
which must necessarily weaken Lady Harman's loyalty and qualify her
submission to Sir Isaac, that makes him want to utilize it and develop
it in that direction....

Sec.5

Moreover so complex is the thought of man, there was also another stream
of mental activity flowing in the darker recesses of Mr. Brumley's mind.
Unobtrusively he was trying to count the money in his pockets and make
certain estimates.

It had been his intention to replenish his sovereign purse that
afternoon at his club and he was only reminded of this abandoned plan
when he paid off his taxi at the gates of Hampton Court. The fare was
nine and tenpence and the only piece of gold he had was a
half-sovereign. But there was a handful of loose silver in his trouser
pocket and so the fare and tip were manageable. "Will you be going back,
sir?" asked the driver.

And Mr. Brumley reflected too briefly and committed a fatal error. "No,"
he said with his mind upon that loose silver. "We shall go back by
train."

Now it is the custom with taxi-cabs that take people to such outlying
and remote places as Hampton Court, to be paid off and to wait loyally
until their original passengers return. Thereby the little machine is
restrained from ticking out twopences which should go in the main to the
absent proprietor, and a feeling of mutuality is established between the
driver and his fare. But of course this cab being released presently
found another passenger and went away....

I have written in vain if I have not conveyed to you that Mr. Brumley
was a gentleman of great and cultivated delicacy, that he liked the
seemly and handsome side of things and dreaded the appearance of any
flaw upon his prosperity as only a man trained in an English public
school can do. It was intolerable to think of any hitch in this happy
excursion which was to establish he knew not what confidence between
himself and Lady Harman. From first to last he felt it had to go with an
air--and what was the first class fare from Hampton Court to
Putney--which latter station he believed was on the line from Hampton
Court to London--and could one possibly pretend it was unnecessary to
have tea? And so while Lady Harman talked about her hu