he heard the furious, frantic rhythm of the
flying hoofs before them. And yet somehow inexplicably she did not at
first feel afraid.

They tore with a speed that seemed to increase momentarily straight down
the thoroughfare that a few seconds before had seemed choked with
traffic. They shaved by vans, omnibuses, hand-barrows. Houses and shops
seemed to whirl past them, like a revolving nightmare--ever the same,
yet somehow ever different. A train was thundering over the bridge as
they galloped beneath it. The maddened horse heard and stretched himself
to his utmost speed.

And then came tragedy--- the tragedy that Nina always felt that she had
known from the beginning of that wild gallop must come.

As they raced on to Ludgate Circus she had a momentary glimpse of a boy
on a bicycle traversing the street before them at right angles. Archie
ceased suddenly to swear. The reins that till then had been taut sagged
down abruptly. He made a clutch at them and failed to catch them. They
slipped away sideways and dragged on the ground.

There came a shock, a piercing cry. Nina started forward for the first
time, but Archie flung his arms round her, holding her fast. Then they
were free of the obstacle and dashing on again.

"Let me see!" she gasped. "Let me see!"

They bumped against a curb and nearly overturned. Then one of their
wheels caught another vehicle. The hansom was whizzed half round, but
the pitiless hoofs still tore on and almost miraculously the worst was
still averted.

Archie's hold was close and nearly suffocated her; but over his shoulder
Nina still managed to look ahead.

And thus looking she saw the most wonderful, and the most terrifying,
episode of the whole adventure.

She saw a man in faultless City attire leap suddenly from the footway to
the road in front of them. For a breathless instant she saw him poised
to spring, and in her heart there ran a sudden, choking sense of
anguished recognition. She shut her eyes and cowered in Archie's arms.
Deliverance was coming. She felt it in every nerve. But how? And by
whom?

There came a jerk and a plunge, a furious, straining effort. The fierce
galloping ceased, yet they made still for a few yards a halting,
difficult progress.

Then they stopped altogether, and she felt the shock of hoofs upon the
splashboard.

Another moment and that, too, ceased. They stood still, and Archie's
arms relaxed.

Nina lifted her head and saw her husband hatless i