The Express halts at Surdon. In Rear First, Jules-Félix Gévelot, his wife Emma, and her companion Aimée spot the comte de Lévis-Mirepoix, another deputy for Orne, on the platform. His companion is a brunette they identify as Madame L’Heureux, sister of deputy Riotteau and married to another man. The comte tries to pretend he is not traveling with her and she boards a different carriage. The comte, having no choice, joins the Gévelot party in their carriage and bluffs through their teasing. Emma opens a hamper and shares lunch; Jules-Félix pours wine and reads his newspaper.

Junior guard Le Goff, checking carriages, finds Henry Tanner in Marcelle’s Second-Class carriage with a green First-Class ticket. Henry suddenly suffers a heavy nosebleed; Marcelle takes charge with her handkerchief. Le Goff moves on to Front Third, where Mado asks where the third deputy is sitting. Le Goff boasts the train carries three Orne deputies, then jumps down at Mariette’s call as the train prepares to depart. A latecomer running across a field misses the train.

Henry recovers from his nosebleed in Marcelle’s care. He explains his dread of public transit, recounting how as an infant he and his mother were ejected from a Washington streetcar in a snowstorm after a man pulled back her veil and used a racial slur.