"What will you take, my dear?" asked Miss Williams.
The counter was so full of good things that I did not know what, but fixed at length upon a plum-tart. Miss Williams laughed, and said I had better eat some sandwiches first and the tart afterwards.
She was pouring me out a cup of coffee when the guard came up again. "Your baggage is changed, little lady," said he. "You'll find it all right at the Nettleby station. Good day."
"Good-bye, and thank you," I answered, holding out my hand, that he might shake it. I felt sorry to part with him—he seemed like a friend. Soon after, the surly guard put in his head and beckoned to me. He marshalled me to a carriage which had a similar board upon it to the other, "For Ladies Only," and shut me in without a word. Two ladies sat opposite to me. They did not speak either; but they stared a great deal. I thought it must be at the two tarts Miss Williams had given me in a paper bag, and did not like to eat them.
At the next station another lady got in, and she began talking at once.
"Are you travelling all alone, little girl?"
"Yes, ma'am. The guard takes care of me?"
"Have you come far?"
I had come from a remote part of Devonshire, the seacoast. It seemed a long way to me, and I said so.
"Will you tell me your name? I daresay it is a pretty one."