Chapter Twenty-Four

It was fortunate we had given up our rooms at the inn and brought our cases with us, for we decided we would continue on to Dover and take the train back to London from there. If the killers were seeking us, they would be waiting for us in Lindenhurst. If we took the train from Dover, it might not even stop at Lindenhurst.

The trip to Dover was quite a bit farther than back to the village, but Blathers assured me the horse was capable of the journey. At Dover we paid for the livery stable to return the horse and gig to Lindenhurst and purchased tickets to London.

“We would like to go on the express train, please.”

“There’s no more express till the mornin’. Ya kin take the local at half-two or ya kin stay the night at the hotel and take the half-seven express in the mornin’.”

“We’ll take the local. Two tickets, please.”

The wait until the train left was short, and the ride to Lindenhurst, the next stop, was less than thirty minutes. It was when we stopped at Lindenhurst that I wished we had stayed over and taken the morning train. At Lindenhurst, two passengers boarded.

“Are those the gents you saw?”

“That’s them. Do you think we should get off?”

“No, they may be looking for us, but they might not know what we look like. They might be looking for two mates in soldier suits. Let’s sit tight and try to see if we can learn anything.”

The train chugged on. It was only two more stations when a man dressed in tweeds, like he was coming off a day of shooting, boarded the train and struck up a conversation with the suspected killers. He looked like I should know him, but of course I didn’t. My contacts with country people were very few. He got off after three stops, still deep in the country. After that though, the two brutes seemed to take more of an interest in Blathers and me. “Blathers, I think we should make a hasty exit from this train at the very next stop and see what happens. I don’t like the way those two are looking at us now.”