Page 93 of Miss Delancey’s Tragicomedy

“No, this is bad. It means the most recent train has already left and there won’t be another for a while.”

Ophelia sighed. What were they doing? They shuffled closer. Then again, closer. From somewhere wafted the scent of wet dog. She tried and failed to stifle a sneeze.

“Gesundheit. Ophelia, this is silly. I can’t see Lady Elizabeth or Trentham subjecting themselves to this. Where are the private cars?”

Daddy had his own. When he needed to travel by train, he simply had his car hitched to whichever one was going where he wanted. Surely Trentham did the same.

“I don’t know. But if they’re eloping, don’t you think they’d be sneaky? A private car isn’t sneaky.”

What was she saying? Ophelia had no idea how elopements worked, except that they apparently involved crossing into lawless Scotland.

They reached the front of the line. The man behind the barred window was short and bespectacled, with a long, sad face. “Where to?”

“Oh, we don’t want tickets,” Dessie said. She leaned closer. “We are looking for someone. They’re eloping.” She made it sound thrilling, but the agent looked bored.

“They aren’t here.” He gestured to his enclosure where there was barely room for one.

“Funny,” Dessie said, with a winning smile. She giggled, which clinched it.

The fellow visibly melted. “Describe them.”

“A tall-ish fellow. Dignified,” Dessie said. Then frowned. “Unless he was disguised.”

Ophelia took over. “The girl is young.” She felt she needed to offer some explanation for the chase. “Our little sister, you see.”

He shook his head. “No one like that. I would have remembered.”

“Step-sister. She’s dark-haired. Very pale. Rather, um, plain.”

“Ah. Well, then, yes. I can’t say for certain this is who you’re looking for, but earlier, there was such a pair. Two tickets for Gretna Green.”

That doused Ophelia’s last ember of hope. “Has their train left?”

“That train has.” He leaned forward until his forehead nearly touched the bars. “But I doubt they were on it.” He seemed pleased with himself for playing up the adventure.

“No?” Dessie asked. “Why not?”

“Because Aggie tried to buy two tickets to Southampton right after they bought theirs. Aggie is our resident beggar.” He glanced over their heads. “Well, I don’t see her now. But she’s always about. And she doesn’t have money for one ticket to Southall, let alone two to Southampton. Course, I couldn’t sell them to her. I had to send her to window four.”

Confused, Ophelia asked, “Do you mean she bought the tickets for them?”

“Walked right over to them after. I was watching, you see, because Aggie’s never bought tickets before. My guess, if you want to know—”

“They thought they might be followed.” This was so absurd it had to be real.

Dessie’s face had hardened. “So to throw off pursuers, he bought two sets of tickets. But they must be going to Southampton if they wanted it to look like they’re heading to Gretna Green.”

He looked annoyed that she’d stolen his thunder. “If they’ve run off to Southampton, your sister is ruined for certain. At least if he took her to Gretna Green, he means to marry her, don’t he?”

Ophelia felt sick. She mumbled, “Maybe they knew you’d be watching. Or someone would. So they did go to Gretna Green, but pretended they were going to Southampton.”

“Hey! Move on!” A shout came from someone in the line forming behind them.

The ticket agent scowled, then shooed them away. “Get on with you, now. I’ve got work.”

Ophelia and Dessie slipped away, heading to the closest wall so they could talk without being jostled.

“Gretna Green? Don’t you think?” Ophelia said. It now seemed the lesser of two evils.