Anne did end up staring out of the window, but the stream of consciousness that it produced made her feel hopeless. Alice would live out the rest of her days in misery and there was nothing she could do. And so she would be miserable for the rest of her days. Perhaps they were all destined to either die or be miserable. What was the point?

She snapped out of it when the train came to a halt again. Still no Castleton. She turned back to the gentleman. "Have ye missed Castleton?"

Conversation was better than her own depressing thoughts. Anne was surprised at how social she was now that despair was looming.