I can walk." Tavernake's lack of imagination stood him in good stead then.

He simply did what he was told, did it in perfectly mechanical fashion, without asking any questions.

With the girl leaning heavily upon his arm, he stepped into the street and almost immediately into a passing taxicab which he had hailed from the threshold of the shop.

As he closed the door, he glanced behind him.

The woman was standing there, half turned towards him, still with that strange, stony look upon her lifeless face.