It was the experience of his life.
Hood was a shy man; it was misery to have attention drawn to himself as it naturally would be as soon as he stepped out on to the platform.

But there was no help; with a last angry look at the drunken soldier, he nerved himself to face the ordeal.

As he walked hurriedly out of the crowd, the cry 'Cab, sir ?' fell upon his ears.

Impossible to say how he brought himself to such a pitch of recklessness, but in a moment he was seated in a hansom, having bidden the driver take him to the nearest hatter's.

The agony of embarrassment has driven shy men to strange audacities, but who ever dared more than this?
_He would be compelled to change the note_! Whatever might be the cause, whether it was the sudden sense of refuge from observation, or the long unknown pleasure of riding in a cab, as he sped along the streets he grew almost merry; at length he positively laughed at the adventure which had befallen him.