Agatha Christie Pair: The Nice Couple

Sometimes the good guy gets the good gal (4:50 to Paddington).

In 4:50 to Paddington, Lucy Eyelesbarrow, efficient housekeeper, is propositioned by a number of the Crackenthorpe men: the elderly, cantankerous father; shady Alfred; artistic Cedric; and Bryan, who has a slightly reckless side (he used to fly airplanes) but is mostly a good sort at loose ends. His son, Alexander, rather wistfully suggests marriage: "[My dad is] awfully good-natured...I think really, you know, it would be a good thing if he married again...Somebody decent."

The excellent BBC version with Joan Hickson ends definitively with Lucy choosing Bryan.

The ending of the book is somewhat more ambiguous. Handsome Inspector Craddock, referred to in this instance by his first name, Dermot, asks Miss Marple, "Which of 'em is she going to choose?"

"Don't you know?" said Miss Marple.

"No, I don't," said Dermot Craddock. "Do you?"

"Oh, yes, I think so," said Miss Marple.

And she twinkled at him.

The implication is that Craddock himself might be in the running. Craddock has had several conversations with Lucy. And he employs a little bit too much over-the-top protesting: "[Miss Eyelesbarrow] is so devastingly efficient. No man will ever dare marry the girl."

In fact, one of the BBC productions, I believe, ends with Lucy and Craddock together.

Either way, she does NOT choose bad boy artist Cedric.

Decent-married-to-decent is in fact far more common than literature might suggest. Of course, it helps to realize that even those who appear un-decent--to themselves or to others--are inherently decent. Rochester actually is a good guy.