The chapter opens with Ted shouting after the departing train as it pulls away, carrying the world-famous painting, the artist’s ashes, and Ted’s luggage. He turns on Louisa, demanding to know why she got off; Louisa fires back, asking the same. Both are battered—Ted’s face is bloodied and Louisa’s knuckles are bruised from the earlier fight.

Louisa explains she left because she could not bear the responsibility of such a valuable painting and wanted Ted to keep it. Ted counters that the painter gave it to Louisa, so it was hers to keep. Their confrontation escalates until Louisa breaks down, saying that good things do not happen to people like her and she is just trying to survive. Ted, also struggling, shouts that he is trying to survive too.

When Ted asks what he does not understand, Louisa yells that men cannot be trusted; Ted yells back that he knows that. The tension softens as both admit regret: Louisa did not mean for Ted to lose the painting, and Ted acknowledges that. They stand together, crying, two “broken dolls” on the platform.

A brief flashback clarifies Louisa’s plan: she slipped off the train and past the men outside, intending to abandon the responsibility, but paused to listen for the train to leave so she could not turn back. Instead, she heard Ted calling for help and returned, which led to the fight and missing the train. She jokes that she would have locked Ted in the bathroom if she had known he could not be left alone for five minutes, and Ted corrects her that she was gone ten.

Louisa returns Ted’s glasses, which she picked up during the chaos. Ted thanks her, not only for the glasses but for coming back, admitting he thought he would die. Louisa masks her feeling with a teasing insult about his face; Ted responds with a sincere compliment about her laugh surviving all the people who tried to take it from her.

The moment is cut short when the two young attackers reappear at the far end of the platform, one with a broken arm but still holding the iron pipe. Their demeanor is predatory. Louisa orders Ted to run and immediately jumps down onto the tracks. Ted, injured, follows her, and they flee along the rails.