"Answer me instantly: where is my husband?" she demanded.
"Gone to Exeter, I suppose, with my wife."
"What do you mean?"
"That he was carried off in the first division of the train, which left five minutes ago."
"But I thought we stopped ten minutes."
"So you did; we stopped only five. When I left you just now, I saw that the forward half of this train had disappeared, and the guard told me it had gone to Exeter, and that this portion was just leaving for Southampton. I thought it better to stay with you than to let you go by yourself; so as the carriage was moving, and it was impossible to get you out, I jumped in."
"Thank you," she said simply; and for a moment there was silence between them while the train rattled over the points, and, reaching the outskirts of the town, began to increase its speed. The little Englishwoman did not, however, emulate her fair American partner in distress, who was at this moment indulging in hysterics in the other train; she had been too well trained to betray her feelings before a man whom she knew but slightly, even over the loss of a husband; so, after remaining quiet for a little, she controlled herself sufficiently to say, very calmly:
"I do not see that we can either of us blame ourselves for what has happened; we must try and make the best of it, and rejoin your wife and my husband as soon as possible."
Plucky little woman! thought Scarsdale to himself; to Mrs. Allingford he said:
"I am glad you see things in so sensible a light. You must let me help you in every way that is in my power."