Charles Reade (1814-1884) was an English novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth.
"The Box Tunnel" tells the story of a bet between two soldiers, travelling on a train across Britain, in the spring of 1847, that one of them will not manage to kiss one of the two other ladies travelling in the carriage. One of these ladies is pretty, the other rather unattractive.
The young soldier takes up the bet, and when the train reaches the box tunnel, just after Swindon, he commits the outrage on the delicious young Miss Haythorne. This ungentlemanly conduct cannot be allowed to go unpunished, and Miss Haythorne takes a most unexpected revenge.