She was neatly but shabbily dressed in black; her gloves were darned, and she was obviously in a hurry.

As she came out she asked a commissionaire: "How far is it to the Hotel Majestic ?" The man told her the hotel was at the very top of the town, and the way was steep.
"But madame can go up in the omnibus of the hotel," he suggested.
Madame, however, was in too much of a hurry.

The omnibus would have to wait for luggage.

She hailed a closed cab and drove off inside it.
"Now, if we go back in the car, we shall be all ready for her when she arrives," said Hanaud.
They passed the cab, indeed, a few yards up the steep hill which leads from the station.

The cab was moving at a walk.
"She looks honest," said Hanaud, with a sigh of relief.