He felt so safe and happy in his wisely placed affection and firmly based engagement to Emma Cavendish that he could afford to be very kind to this poor woman, although she had once possessed—and by her conduct forever forfeited—his honest youthful love.
He gave her his arm and led her away to the dining-room, where a crowd was collected at the refreshment table.
There was a whisper between two attendants as they passed by.
"Hush! That is the young fellow she has been waiting here to meet. It is a runaway marriage, bless you!"
This whisper reached the ears of Alden Lytton and Mary Grey.
Alden Lytton paid no attention to it, thinking that it referred to some "levanting" youth and girl who had chosen this station for their escapade.
But Mary Grey smiled grimly to herself as she heard it.
They had barely time to get a cup of coffee each before the warning shriek of the steam engine called the passengers to take their places.
Alden Lytton drew his companion's arm within his own, led her into the ladies' car, put her into a comfortable seat, and took his place beside her.
Purposely suggested by Mary Grey's own calculated actions while waiting at the station, a whisper had got around among the attendants that the lovely young lady in black had come down to meet her lover and elope with him; and from the attendants it had reached the ears of some of the passengers.