And so, with the 1900 just two months away, I set off for London.
The train arrived in Southampton at half past three, and I sat in the ladies' waiting room until the London express's departure at a quarter past four. When it was time to leave, I had trouble finding a porter to assist me with my suitcase but finally attracted the attention of an elderly, stooping, knobbly-kneed specimen who looked as though he should have been safely retired some years previously. Because of this, we arrived on the platform in something of a rush and with less than two minutes before the train was due to depart.
'This way, madam,' he called over his shoulder, heading for a first-class carriage, which was an indulgence I had allowed myself, intending to arrive at the Empire's capital in style. The engine hissed and vented smoke and steam, whistles blew up and down the crowded platform, and the guard's calls of 'London Express, non-stop to London' rose above the station noise. He pulled open the door of a compartment and peered in. 'Room for one more, sir?' he wheezed breathlessly.
'If you must, damn you,' came the less-than-encouraging reply from within. It was a man's voice, cultured but with a faint colonial accent.
'Wait and see, sir,' the porter muttered in reply. He swung my case into the carriage and stepped back to allow me to enter. I handed him a tip and placed my foot on the step.
My appearance in the door frame was pleasingly impactive. The compartment ran crossways across the carriage with doors on either side of the train but no corridor, and its solitary occupant was slumped next to the door at the far end. A quick glance was all I needed to take him in. He was a tall man in a well-cut travel-stained brown suit, a soft-collared blue shirt, and a red tie. Regimental, I think. Aged around thirty-five, I guessed, and sandy haired with a tanned face and strong jawline. He looked lean, capable, and confident, and his hazel eyes took me in with a long direct stare.
A smile slowly replaced the scowl he had been wearing seconds earlier.
'Everything all right, madam?' the porter asked.
'Thank you, yes,' I replied.
'Indeed it is,' the stranger added - rather impertinently, as the question had clearly not been addressed to him. As the porter slammed the door, he stood up and held out his hand.
'Good afternoon, Miss. Gabriel Chandos, at your service.'
'Mary Felix, Mr Chandos. I'm sorry to have disturbed your solitude, but rest assured you will hardly notice me sitting here.' I smiled inwardly, picturing a barrister protesting, 'Leading the witness, your honour.' Sure enough, he followed my cue.
'Miss Connors, I cannot imagine any red-blooded male not noticing you. If you will forgive the presumption.'
I looked at him coolly. His eyes had flecks of gold in them, I noticed, and his cheekbones were quite pronounced. 'Hmmm, Mr Chandos. That may or may not be the case, but I hope that either way, you will be a gentleman during our time together.' I sat down by the door, as far from his seating position as possible, and looked out of the window, a poised and interested expression on my face. In the window's reflection I could see him still standing in the middle of the compartment, looking at me.
'Please don't remain standing for the entire journey on my account, Mr Chandos,' I said, continuing to observe the comings and goings outside as the train pulled away. I waited until he had resumed his seat before adding, 'But perhaps you'd be kind enough to put my suitcase on the rack.' He rose again, did so, and then sat down again, an amused smile on his face.
He made a pass at me fifteen minutes later, of course.
They all want to. Some do, some do not, but Mr Gabriel Chandos was most definitely a doer. It was charmingly done and came at the end of a pleasant conversation in which I told him a little of my life and reasons for travelling and he did the same. The common currency of strangers thrown together en route to their destinations.
I had set the tone by permitting a little flirting. Not that it was planned, particularly, but I rapidly realised that he was indeed a gentleman and undeniably a very attractive man. He was from a South African farming family but had joined the military and was on secondment from the Natal Light Infantry, heading for the Foreign Office to take up a post there. He was very pleasant company, and as we rattled through the dark November evening, the atmosphere in the warm, dimly lit carriage became increasingly intimate.
'It's funny, isn't it, the way one meets people when travelling,' he observed. 'So many of them are bores, wrapped up in their own affairs. Yet meeting you, I feel I could talk to you for many hours without getting tired of your company at all. In fact, just sitting looking at you would be reward enough, so to find you are also an intelligent and pleasant young woman is a happy coincidence indeed.'
'You are not entirely without charm yourself, Mr Chandos. Indeed, I think that with hard work and application you may find a woman in London who will consider marriage to you to be tolerably acceptable,' I replied a little primly.
He roared with laughter at that. 'Marriage? That is not on my agenda, Miss Connors. Not at all. Although thank you for the compliment.' He nodded at me, still smiling.
'Then what is on your agenda, I wonder?' I asked, smiling back. Which was apparently all the encouragement he needed, as he briskly moved to sit next to me.
I raised my eyebrows at him and awaited developments.
'If I wasn't a gentleman, I should be attempting to try and seduce you and to pass the remaining,' he glanced briefly at his wristwatch, 'hour and ten minutes in delightful congress.'
I let him see me shiver slightly and licked my lips before answering. 'But you are a gentleman, aren't you, Mr Chandos?'
'Up to a point.' He smiled rakishly at me. 'But even a gentleman might attempt to steal a kiss from a woman as beautiful as you.' He leaned towards me, his face close now. A faint masculine aroma of sandalwood and tobacco reached me and I felt the unmistakable stirrings of arousal. With Lucy and then Jules's marriages it had been some time since the last time.
Knowing where it would lead, I raised my face to his, and the next moment his lips were on mine. We kissed gently at first, then long and hard. My hand reached up and held his cheek as I opened my mouth to him.
'This is warm work, Mr Chandos,' I said at length, breaking from him and gently pushing him away. 'I think I will remove my hat and coat.' Standing up, I did so, and he leaped to his feet, took them, and placed them on the opposite seat. Quickly moving behind me, he kissed my neck. I should say he kissed my neck in exactly, oh so precisely, that place that makes a girl tremble. And I should know.
I gasped and bent my head to the side as his hands encircled me, his own arousal only too apparent through my dress as he closed with me. I moved my buttocks gently, pressing backwards as his hands reached upwards towards the top button of my dress and flicked it undone. There were five in total, I recalled.
I opened my eyes and saw he was looking at me in the window's reflection. 'I hope I am not going to disappoint you, Mr Chandos,' I said, breathing rather heavily.
'Gabriel, please,' he muttered, returning to his delicious work on my neck for a moment before continuing. 'And I can assure you, you are not disappointing me, Miss Connors. Not at all.' He smiled at me in the window.
'It's just that there are four more buttons, and they are a guinea each,' I said.
His stunned reaction was a delight to behold. He was a handsome man and I liked him, but he thought he was about to add another notch to his bedpost, and I must admit, bringing him down a peg or two held a certain satisfaction.
'Four guineas to have me, Gabriel.' I smiled at him in the window. 'I hope you have the money, because I will certainly enjoy it too and will endeavour to give complete satisfaction.' I wriggled my bum again, pressing back against his hard cock.