Nedra. George Barr McCutcheon

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СКАЧАТЬ his pocket a telegram; spectators stared amusedly at him as he read and reread:

      DETROIT, MICHIGAN, March 81, 190--.

      To H.B. Ridge:

      Got away safely. Meet me Forty-second Street, New York, to-morrow at three. Feel awfully queer and look a fright. Sympathetic lady, next compartment, just offered condolences for loss of my husband. What are the probabilities of storm? Be sure and find out before we start.

      SISTER GRACE.

      "Isn't that just like a girl!" he muttered to himself. "Where else would Forty-second Street be but New York! London?"

      They had decided to travel as brother and sister and to adopt Ridge as the surname. Hugh had taken passage for Liverpool on the liner Saint Cloud, to sail on the second, having first examined the list of passengers to ascertain if there were any among them who might know him or his companion in the adventure. The list was now complete, and he, assured that there was no danger of recognition, felt the greatest weight of all lifted from his mind.

      He had also considerately inquired into the state of the weather and learned that it promised well for the voyage. The whole affair was such a glorious lark, such an original enterprise, that he could scarcely restrain himself in his exhilaration from confiding in his chance hotel acquaintances.

      Purposely, the night before, he had gone to an hotel where he was unknown, keeping under cover during the day as much as possible. According to the prearranged plan, they were to go aboard ship that evening, as the sailing hour was early in the morning.

      He was waiting for her train. Every now and then his glance would shoot through the throng of people, somewhat apprehensively, as if he feared, instead of hoped, that some one might be there. This searching glance was to determine whether there might be any danger of Chicago or New York acquaintances witnessing the arrival of the person for whom he waited. Once he recognized a friend and dodged quickly behind a knot of people, escaping notice. That is why he audibly muttered:

      "Thank Heaven!"

      Every nerve was tingling with excitement; an indescribable desire to fly, to shout, to race down the track to meet the train, swept through him. His heart almost stopped beating, and he felt that his face was bloodless. For the twentieth time in the last two hours Ridgeway looked at his watch and frowningly exclaimed:

      "Only five after two! Nearly an hour to wait!"

      He sat down for a moment, only to arise the next and walk to the board announcing the arrival of trains. Almost immediately one pulled into the station. Perceiving a bystander--one of the sort that always give the impression of being well-informed--he inquired casually where it was from.

      "Chicago," was the ready answer.

      "Great Scott! Lucky I came early! Grace's idea of time--oh, well, only the small matter of an hour out of the way."

      Quickly he sprang forward, taking up a good position to watch. First came a man hurriedly and alone. A bunch of people followed him. Hugh peered unsuccessfully here and there among them. Another bunch; she was not in it, and he began to feel a trifle nervous. Now came the stragglers and he grew bewildered. Finally, the last one--a woman hove in sight. With renewed hope he scanned her approach. It was not Grace! His brain was in a whirl. What could have happened? Where was she? Again he jerked out the telegram.

      "Meet me Forty-second Street, New York, at three," he read half-aloud. "Nothing could be plainer," he mused in perplexity. "No train at three; another at--she must be on a later one."

      "What time is the next Chicago train due?" he inquired anxiously at the Information Bureau.

      "Five-thirty, sir," politely answered the official.

      "Five-thirty!" he repeated disgustedly.

      Again the telegram was brought out and this time shown.

      "On what road did you expect the lady?" was the question put with well-simulated interest that every few minutes was practised on different individuals.

      "Road?" Hugh stared blankly at his questioner. "What road?" Then, like a flash, the solution of the problem pierced his brain.

      "What an ass I am!" he burst out, and added sheepishly: "West Shore!"

      Purposely avoiding the other's face for confirmation of his self-depreciatory exclamation, together with its unmistakable expression of professional tolerance for the imbecilities of mankind, Hugh looked at the time. It was two-thirty. Tearing out of the station, he hailed a cab.

      Inside, and moving fast, he winced a little as he thought of his late strictures on girls and their ways. What a shame to have abused Grace, when he himself had told her to take the Wabash as essential to their plan. What a blooming idiot he was! New York in the telegram meant, of course, the New York side of the river. He recovered his equanimity; the world was serene again.

      With a sharp pull the cabman brought up at the ferry and Hugh took his stand among those waiting for the boat to disgorge its load of passengers.

      At that moment a thought struck him, and acting on it, he called out:

      "Hi! porter!"

      "Here, sir!"

      "Where can I get some note paper?"

      "All right, sir!" and in an instant a pad of paper was forthcoming.

      Hugh took out his pencil and wrote a brief note. Then, in a low voice, he said:

      "Here, porter! I want you to do something for me."

      "Yes, sir!"

      "I'll make it worth your while, but I won't hare you attending to any one else--understand?"

      The porter demonstrated with a nod his perfect comprehension of what was required, and there followed from his employer a minute description of the lady.

      "Young, slight, tall, fair, black hat and veil, and--"

      "In mourning, sir, undoubtedly?"

      "Mourning! No, of course not. Cannot a lady wear black without being in mourning?" Hugh expostulated sharply.

      "Certainly, sir; but generally--"

      Whatever costume the worldly-wise porter would have approved as en régle for a lady, under conditions to his thinking so obviously indiscreet, the description was forestalled by the ingenuous young man, who, dissimilarly apprehensive and oblivious to the innuendo, was heard to grumble:

      "What on earth is the matter with people? Everybody seems to delight in painting this most delectable of undertakings in the most funereal colors!" and went on anxiously: "You're sure you won't miss, her?"

      With an indulgent smile for the youth and inexperience of his patron, and glancing surreptitiously at the size of the bill in his hand, the attendant calmly announced that there was not the faintest possibility of an error. He took his position a little to the right of and behind Hugh, like an adjutant at dress parade. Through the ferry rushed the weary, impatient travellers. Owing to the place Hugh had taken at one side of the run, Grace, at first, did not perceive him. Anxiety, almost fright, showed in her СКАЧАТЬ