"Oh, well, if he didn't think I was good enough to know--" She
paused. "He _had_ rather a superior way with him, a sort of
independent, lordly manner, as though no one had a right to question
anything he chose to do. And he was in a first-class reserved
compartment too."

"Oh, was he? And did you force your way into his reserved compartment,
may I ask?"

Diana giggled.

"I didn't force my way into it; I was pitchforked in by a porter. The
train was packed, and I was late. Of course I offered to go and find
another seat, but there wasn't one anywhere."

"So the young man yielded to _force majeure_ and allowed you to travel
with him?" said the Rector, adding seriously: "I'm very thankful he
did. To think of you--alone--in that awful smash! . . . This
morning's paper says there were forty people killed."

Diana gave a little nervous shiver, and then quite suddenly began to
cry.

Stair quietly took the reins from her hand, and patted her shoulder,
but he made no effort to check her tears. He had felt worried all
morning by her curious detachment concerning the accident; it was
unnatural, and he feared that later on the shock which she must have
received might reveal itself in some abnormal nervousness regarding
railway travelling. These tears would bring relief, and he welcomed
them, allowing her to cry, comfortably leaning against his shoulder, as