"No, sir. He's not in this train. Not been here since you left."
Having satisfied my curiosity by walking along the platform and scrutinising the occupants of every carriage, I returned, and said:
"Find me a first-class compartment, all to myself."
"One here, sir, with the brightest lamp in the whole train."
If mine were the brightest, I pity those who were cursed with the dullest.
The lies some people will tell for a few paltry pence! Taking a corner seat, and calling for a foot-warmer, I leaned out of the window, keeping a sharp look-out in case George should turn up on the platform at the last moment.
"I suppose my bro--the gentleman cannot now get to London before me?"
"Not unless he has gone by the other line."
"The L. C. and D.?" repeated the porter, apparently astounded that any one should be ignorant of the meaning of those initials. "Why, the London, Chatham and Dover Railway? Their last train left twenty minutes ago."
Here was a pretty piece of news! I could have written a long article on the numerous paved _viæ_ that radiated from ancient Rome, but I knew next to nothing of the lines of railway that emanate from modern London, and the idea that there might be an iron road to the great city other than the one I was travelling by had never occurred to me.
"I have had my long watch for nothing," I muttered savagely. "While I was shivering in the cold, George, for all that I know to the contrary, may have left the house by a back door, and may now be bowling on his way to London. Well, anyhow, I am close on his heels. I shall arrive before the wedding, and you don't marry Daphne, George, till you have given an explanation of your strange conduct. Something wrong has been going on, else why should you avoid me?" And, with the usual sophistry employed by mortals when their self-interest is concerned, I tried to convince myself that in requiring an explanation from George I was actuated by a consideration for Daphne's welfare, and by no other motive.
The guard's whistle had sounded, and the locomotive in front had given a warning shriek, when the figure of a lady appearing within an archway just opposite the compartment I was in darted hurriedly across the platform.
"Ticket, if you please, miss. Thank you. Charing Cross--first-class. Jump in, please. Not a moment to lose."