'I'm very glad,' said Pete. 'I always wanted to come all the way.'
'But perhaps it needn't be all the way,' I said. 'Do you remember, Margaret, how many stations there are between the Junction and yours?'
'Three or four, I think,' she replied.
'Oh well, then,' I said, 'it won't matter. We can get out the first time we stop, and I daresay we shall soon get a train back again, and not be late home after all.'
Margaret's face cleared. She was thoughtful enough not to want us to get into trouble through helping her.
'We shall be stopping soon, I think,' she said, 'for this seems a fast train.'
But to me her words brought no satisfaction. For it did indeed seem a fast train, and a much more horrible idea than the one of our going all the way to Hill Horton suddenly sprang into my mind—
Were we in the Hill Horton train at all?