"Well, of all the unexpected meetings! Don't say you are going to Eastbourne!" "But I am," she said, and, though she smiled, her eyes were heavy with unshed tears.

She was deeply attached to her mother, and the thought that the loved one was too ill even to communicate with her by telephone was distressing beyond measure.
"Just imagine that!" went on Theydon, determined to rush his fences and travel with her unless openly forbidden.

"I'm taking an American friend there for the afternoon.

May we come in your carriage?
Is there room for two ?" Now, although Evelyn Forbes had been attracted to Theydon during their vivacious conversation overnight, she would vastly have preferred the comparative solitude of a journey with strangers.
Still, she could hardly refuse such a request, and common sense told her that a pleasant chat with a man who could talk as well as Theydon offered a better means of whiling away two and a half hours than brooding over the nature and extent of her mother's unknown illness.
"There's plenty of room," she said.
Without further ado, Theydon entered and Handyside followed.

The compartment held six seats, while a door led to a side corridor running the length of the coach.