"A taxicab it shall be," he decided. "I am in funds just for the
moment. Come along, both of you, and I'll tell you all about
it."
He made her take his arm, although her fingers did no more than
touch his coat sleeve.
"Pritchard came and dug me out," he continued. "I am going
abroad with him. It's sort of prospecting in some new country at
the back of British Columbia. We see what we can find and then
go to a financier's and start companies, mining companies and oil
fields--anything. I am off in a week."
Beatrice half closed her eyes. They had hailed a passing cab and
she sank back among the cushions with a sigh of relief.
"Dear Leonard," she murmured, "I am so glad, so very happy for
your sake. This is the sort of thing which I hoped would
happen."
"And now tell me about yourselves," he went on.
There was a sudden silence. Tavernake was conscious that
Beatrice's clothes were distinctly shabbier, that the professor's
hat was shiny. The professor cleared his throat.
"I do not wish," he said, "to intrude our private matters upon
one who, although I will not call him a stranger, is assuredly
not one of our old friends. At the same time, I admit that a
little trouble has arisen between Beatrice and myself, and we
were discussing it at the moment you arrived. I shall appeal to
you now. As an unprejudiced member of the audience to-night, Mr.
Tavernake, you will give me your honest opinion?"
"Certainly," Tavernake promised, with a sinking premonition of
what was to come.
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