A porter opened the door and Alban handed him out one package after another.
Then in his polite way, having jumped out, he gave his hand to Anne to help her down to the platform.
The porter went to fetch a barrow and they stood by the pile of their luggage.
Alban waved to two passengers from the ship who passed them.
The man nodded stiffly.
'What a comfort it is that we shall never have to be civil to those awful people any more,' said Alban lightly.
Anne gave him a quick glance.
He was really incomprehensible.
The porter came back with his barrow, the luggage was put on and they followed him to collect their trunks.
Alban took his wife's arm and pressed it.
'The smell of London. By God, it's grand.'
He rejoiced in the noise and the bustle, and the crowd of people who jostled them; the radiance of the arc-lamps and the black shadows they cast, sharp but full-toned, gave him a sense of elation.
They got out into the street and the porter went off to get them a taxi.
Alban's eyes glittered as he looked at the buses and the policemen trying to direct the confusion.
His distinguished face bore a look of something like inspiration.
The taxi came.
Their luggage was stowed away and piled up beside the driver, Alban gave the porter half-a-crown, and they drove off.
They turned down Gracechurch Street and in Cannon Street were held up by a block in the traffic.
Alban laughed out loud.
'What's the matter?' said Anne.
'I'm so excited.'
They went along the Embankment.
It was relatively quiet there.
Taxis and cars passed them.
The bells of the trams were music in his ears.
At Westminster Bridge they cut across Parliament Square and drove through the green silence of St James's Park.
They had engaged a room at a hotel just off Jermyn Street.
The reception clerk took them upstairs and a porter brought up their luggage.
It was a room with twin beds and a bathroom.
'This looks all right,' said Alban.
'It'll do us till we can find a flat or something.'
He looked at his watch.
'Look here, darling, we shall only fall over one another if we try to unpack together.
We've got oodles of time and it'll take you longer to get straight and dress than me.
I'll clear out.
I want to go to the club and see if there's any mail for me.
I've got my dinner-jacket in my suit-case and it'll only take me twenty minutes to have a bath and dress.
Does that suit you?'
'Yes. That's all right.'
'I'll be back in an hour.'
'Very well.'
He took out of his pocket the little comb he always carried and passed it through his long fair hair.
Then he put on his hat. He gave himself a glance in the mirror.
'Shall I turn on the bath for you?'
'No, don't bother.'
'All right.
So long.'
He went out.
When he was gone Anne took her dressing-case and her hat-box and put them on the top of her trunk.
Then she rang the bell. She did not take off her hat. She sat down and lit a cigarette.