About this story
On the train home you overhear two strangers discussing the theft already made of the Duchess of Datchet's diamonds, and in a station refreshment room you leave with the wrong Gladstone bag. Alone in your hotel room you find someone else's clothes, a ring, and a tiara, and must decide what to tell Daisy before the bag's real owner catches up with you.
How it opens
I met Lawrence on the pier by chance, though I feared how the meeting would look.
LawrenceThe band is playing our last waltz, Miss Strong; chance has a taste for repetition.
Cyril, you arrived while Lawrence held my hand and let suspicion answer first.
Cyril, I owe you honesty, not an interrogation conducted before a stranger.
Your engagement already strained beneath money you had risked in speculation without telling her.
Jealousy and debt are poor companions for a railway journey.