"I know," said Mellish, gravely. "I am all right; no man more so.
I am Bob Mellish. You ask--"
"Here. Come out of this," said one of the party, a powerful man with
a scarred face and crushed nose, grasping Mellish and thrusting him
into the train. "Y'll 'ave to clap a beefsteak on that ogle of
yours, where you napped the Dutchman's auctioneer, Byron. It's got
more yellow paint on it than y'll like to show in church to-morrow."
At this they all gave a roar of laughter, and entered a third-class
carriage. Lydia and Alice had but just time to take their places in
the train before it started.
"Eeally, I must say," said Alice, "that if those were Mr. Cashel
Byron's and Lord Worthington's associates, their tastes are very
peculiar."
"Yes," said Lydia, almost grimly. "I am a fair linguist; but I did
not understand a single sentence of their conversation, though I
heard it all distinctly."
"They were not gentlemen," said Alice. "You say that no one can tell
by a person's appearance whether he is a gentleman or not; but
surely you cannot think that those men are Lord Worthington's
equals."
"I do not," said Lydia. "They are ruffians; and Cashel Byron is the
most unmistakable ruffian of them all."
Alice, awestruck, did not venture to speak again until they left the
train at Victoria. There was a crowd outside the carriage in which
Cashel had travelled. They hastened past; but Lydia asked a guard
whether anything was the matter. He replied that a drunken man,
alighting from the train, had fallen down upon the rails, and that,
had the carriage been in motion, he would have been killed. Lydia
thanked her informant, and, as she turned from him, found Bashville
standing before her, touching his hat. She had given him no
instructions to attend. However, she accepted his presence as a
matter of course, and inquired whether the carriage was there.
"No, madam," replied Bashville. "The coachman had no orders."
"Quite right. A hansom, if you please." When he was gone she said to
Alice, "Did you tell Bashville to meet us?"
"Oh, DEAR, no," said Alice. "I should not think of doing such a
thing."
"Strange! However, he knows his duties better than I do; so I have
no doubt that he has acted properly. He has been waiting all the
afternoon, I suppose, poor fellow."