IN THE 
 
 VESTiBULjjJMITED 
 
 BY 
 
 BRANDER MATTHEWS 
 
 Tr 
 
 
 HARPERS 
 
 fBLACK&WHITE 
 
 <) C* r- -. w i^ /- 

 
 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 BY 
 
 BRANDER MATTHEWS 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HARPER AND BROTHERS 
 1892
 
 Copyright. 1^92, by HAKPER & BROTHERS. 
 
 All rights reserved.
 
 THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 "THE PARLOR CAR" "THE SLEEPING CAR" 
 
 AND 
 
 "THE ALBANY DEPOT" 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 "IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED" 
 INSCRIBES IT
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGH 
 
 I. IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON ... 13 
 
 II. IN THE DINING-CAR FROM NEW YORK . . 33 
 
 III. IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON . . .47 
 
 IV. IN THE SMOKING-CAR FROM NEW YORK . . 67 
 
 V. IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON" . . .83
 
 IN THE 
 SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 
 
 THE New York and Chicago Limit 
 ed train, composed wholly of vestibule 
 " sleepers " (with a subsidiary baggage- 
 car and a comfortable dining-car), leaves 
 the Grand Central station in New York 
 every morning at ten minutes before ten 
 o clock ; and about three hours later it 
 arrives at Albany, where there is adjoined 
 to it another sleeper (of the same vesti 
 bule fashioning), which has left Boston 
 at seven o clock that morning. Then the 
 train which has come up the valley of 
 the Hudson, lengthened by the added 
 car which has come across the valley of 
 the Connecticut, starts out of the Albany 
 station at a quarter past one o clock on 
 its journey up the valley of the Mohawk,
 
 14 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 and thence along the shore of Lake Erie, 
 and across the prairies of Michigan to 
 Chicago. 
 
 One afternoon in the last week of Sep 
 tember, when this train drew out of the 
 Albany station in the teeth of a driving 
 rain the tail end of the equinoctial storm 
 there sat in the car which had come 
 from Boston a young man of perhaps 
 twenty-eight or thirty, solidly built, with 
 a firm mouth, and with a pair of resolute 
 gray eyes which contrasted with his thick 
 brown hair. He occupied the forward 
 section on the western side of the sleeper, 
 and a heavy leather valise lay on the seat 
 before him, with the October number of 
 the Arctic Monthly tucked beneath one 
 of its straps. A New York morning pa 
 per was held tightly in the young man s 
 grasp. But he was not reading it, al 
 though he had his glasses on. He was 
 staring out of the window at his left, 
 though the pane was so bespattered with 
 rain-drops that it was scarcely possible 
 to see even the telegraph poles by the
 
 IN THE bLEEI ING-CAR FROM BOSTON 15 
 
 side of the track. He had chanced to 
 notice the date September 27th and 
 then he had suddenly remembered that 
 this had been his wedding day. Septem 
 ber 27th was the day she had set for them 
 to be married ; not only had the engage 
 ment been announced, and many of the 
 wedding presents received, but even the 
 cards had been ordered. Yet here he 
 was going West, alone, almost at the very 
 hour when he had hoped to stand with 
 her at the altar before which they were 
 to be made man and wife. And it was 
 all because of a foolish quarrel about 
 nothing, in which both of them had been 
 wrong, no doubt, and for which both of 
 them were paying the penalty. He loved 
 her as much as ever, and he cursed the 
 miserable pride which had prevented his 
 going to her once again to find out wheth 
 er she did not love him still despite their 
 disagreement and their silly parting. 
 
 Her figure rose before him again as he 
 continued to gaze out of the car window 
 indeed it was rarelv that she was not
 
 16 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 before his vision and he saw once more 
 the flash of her black eyes, and he caught 
 the glint of the sunlight on the coils of 
 her black hair, and he noted again the 
 trembling of the sensitive little mouth as 
 she told him that they had made a mis 
 take, and that it was well they had found 
 it out before it was too late, and that 
 they had best part forever. And as the 
 rain beat hard upon the window through 
 which the young man looked as through 
 a glass darkly, seeing nothing, he won 
 dered why he had taken his dismissal 
 calmly. He marvelled now that he had 
 accepted her unjust accusations, and that 
 he had not defended himself more ener 
 getically. He recalled his emotions at 
 the moment of the parting ; he felt again 
 the hot wave of indignation that she 
 should think so meanly of him as to be 
 lieve him capable of the fault with which 
 he was charged. He knew now by the 
 chill at his heart that his pride had been 
 misplaced. He knew now that it had 
 been his dutv to clear himself in her
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON l"J 
 
 eyes then and at once. He knew now 
 that he had not acted for the best. And 
 it was too late, for the day had come 
 which had been set for the wedding; 
 and here he was going West alone, and 
 he did not know even where she might 
 be except that he and she were parted. 
 After five years hard work in the 
 West, Hallett Larcom had earned a va 
 cation, and he had come East early in 
 July for the first time since he had been 
 graduated from the Harvard Law School. 
 He had gone to spend a few days with a 
 classmate at Narragansett Pier, and there 
 he met Anita Vernon, and there he had 
 staid until he had made her promise to 
 marry him. She was an orphan ; a sis 
 ter of the classmate at whose house they 
 had met. She lived in New York with 
 an old-maid aunt, Miss Mary Van Dyne, 
 and she was spending the summer at the 
 Pier with her brother, Rudolph Vernon. 
 After the lovers quarrel that night she 
 had left Narragansett by the earliest 
 train the next morning, sending back.
 
 l8 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 without a word, the engagement ring he 
 had given her but a few days before. On 
 receipt of this, Hallett Larcom had been 
 seized with a desire to rush off to New 
 York after her, and to insist on explain 
 ing all, and to force her to love him again 
 as he loved her still. But his pride was 
 strong, and he knew that he had been 
 unjustly accused, and he did nothing. 
 He lingered at the Pier for a week or 
 more in hope of hearing from her; then 
 he had gone back to Boston to his rela 
 tives there, forbidding them to ask ques 
 tions, and indignantly denying that Anita 
 Vernon was in any way to blame for break 
 ing off the match. At last, cutting his va 
 cation short, he had started back to Den 
 ver, in the hope that hard work might 
 bring surcease of sorrow. Until his eyes 
 had fallen on the date of the newspaper, 
 he had not known that he was taking a 
 journey on the very day she had set for 
 the wedding. 
 
 So intent was he in following the train 
 of bitter thoughts and of delightful mem-
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 1Q 
 
 ories which the discovery had started that 
 he had not noticed the movements of the 
 other passengers in the car. 
 
 As soon as the Boston sleeper had 
 been joined at Albany to the train from 
 New York, the two ladies who occupied 
 the section immediately behind him had 
 left their seats, and gone forward into 
 the dining-car for luncheon. Hallett 
 Larcom had barely remarked them as 
 they passed, and he was too absorbed by 
 his own thoughts to pay any attention to 
 them when they returned. 
 
 One of them was an alert old lady of 
 nearly seventy, brisk and cheerful, with 
 ample gray hair and the most wonderful 
 bright blue eyes. The other lady was 
 younger, scant sixty perhaps, yet of a 
 much more sedate appearance, as though 
 conscious of her duty as the chaperon 
 of her more frivolous companion. She 
 called the pleasant old lady with the curls 
 and the smile " Miss Marlenspuyk," and 
 the pleasant old lady called her " Mrs. 
 Hitchcock."
 
 20 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 As the two ladies resumed their seats 
 behind Hallett Larcom, they continued 
 their conversation. 
 
 " I met her last year in Washington," 
 said Miss Marlenspuyk, "and we were 
 having a delicious chat, when some man 
 broke in and carried her off. That s the 
 trouble with Washington it s so hard to 
 have your talk out ; it s the city of mag 
 nificent distances and interrupted con 
 versations. Now in Philadelphia nobody 
 ever interrupts anybody. That s why I 
 like to go there ; they let me have my say 
 out. You see, my mother was a Phila- 
 delphian, so they tolerate me. You know 
 in Philadelphia they hold that the Tree 
 of Life is a family tree, and they think 
 that Columbus discovered America just 
 to get acquainted with the Biddies." 
 
 Mrs. Hitchcock laughed lightly, but 
 with dignity. " What a remarkable wom 
 an you are !" she returned ; " and so rest 
 less, too. You are going now from Bos 
 ton to Chicago, and last winter you 
 divided yourself between New York and
 
 IN THE SLEEi IN-G-CAK FROM BOSTON
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 23 
 
 Philadelphia and Washington. I don t 
 believe you will be satisfied in heaven ; 
 you will find it too monotonous." 
 
 "Oh, I shall make out, I m sure," re 
 sponded the old maid, cheerily. " I have 
 read that in my Father s house there 
 are many mansions/ and I expect I shall 
 go visiting around." 
 
 This time Mrs. Hitchcock s little laugh 
 indicated that she was slightly shocked. 
 All she said was, "Oh, Miss Marlen- 
 spuyk!" 
 
 " You mustn t mind what I say," the 
 old lady went on. " I must talk. I m a 
 conversational Catling - gun at least, 
 that s what Rudolph Vernon called me 
 last year. You know Rudolph Vernon, 
 don t you, Mrs. Hitchcock the brother 
 of Anita ?" 
 
 By chance these proper names fell into 
 Hallett Larcom s ear, and roused him 
 from his reverie. He had no desire to 
 overhear his neighbors conversation, but 
 the sound of her name was an irresisti 
 ble temptation.
 
 24 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 "I ve met him," Mrs. Hitchcock re 
 plied. 
 
 "Anita spent part of the summer at 
 his place at Narragansett Pier," Miss Mar- 
 lenspuyk continued. " It was there that 
 she met the man she was going to mar 
 ry ; but I m afraid he didn t know enough 
 to appreciate her, as the engagement 
 seems to have been broken off suddenly. 
 She s a good girl, and she ll make a good 
 wife some of these days ; and when I 
 heard that she was going to marry this 
 Larcom from out West, somehow I had 
 hopes- that she had found a real man, 
 and not one of the little whipper-snap 
 pers we see every summer at the water 
 ing-places nowadays mere broilers, I 
 call them." 
 
 The conversation was getting per 
 sonal ; still the man in the section in 
 front of the speaker could not help but 
 hear. 
 
 " We must take men as we find them," 
 said Mrs. Hitchcock, philosophically. 
 She wore black, merely edged with crape,
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 25 
 
 and there was the faintest outline of a 
 widow s cap inside her bonnet. 
 
 " I wonder how it is I never found a 
 man who would take me?" returned Miss 
 Marlenspuyk, with a smile and a shake 
 of her silver-gray curls. 
 
 " So do I, indeed, my dear," Mrs. Hitch 
 cock responded. " I have often said I 
 don t see how it was you never married." 
 
 " Nobody axed me, sir, she said, " the 
 old maid returned, laughing heartily ; 
 "and I m not like a government con 
 tract, I can t advertise myself under the 
 head of Proposals Invited. " 
 
 " Do you mean to say, really, that no 
 man ever proposed to you?" inquired 
 Mrs. Hitchcock, with feminine interest. 
 
 "Not one," answered Miss Marlen 
 spuyk. " I thought one was going to 
 speak once, but he didn t. He was a lieu 
 tenant in my father s regiment, and he 
 danced with me three times running at 
 a West Point ball, just before he joined 
 his company and went to the Mexican 
 war. He was killed at Chapultepec, and
 
 26 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 I lost my last chance. I believe girls 
 nowadays think nothing of refusing half 
 a score of good offers before they pick 
 the right one. I ve a great mind to go 
 forward into the dining-car again, and ask 
 Annie Vernon how many times she has 
 had to decline with thanks, as the edi 
 tors say." 
 
 Hallett Larcom started. It needed all 
 his self-control to prevent his turning 
 around and breaking into the conversa 
 tion of the two ladies behind him. If he 
 understood what the old lady had just 
 said, then the woman he loved was in 
 the very same train with him. And if 
 she were? His heart gave a bound as 
 he realized that fortune might still favor 
 him with another chance. 
 
 A sudden gust of wind again flecked 
 the car window with little drops of rain; 
 and then the train passed on out of the 
 storm, and there was even a hint of sun 
 shine at the edge of the clouds on the 
 hill-tops across the river. 
 
 "Miss Vernon is a pretty girl, as you
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 27 
 
 say," Mrs. Hitchcock returned, " and that 
 gray suit is becoming to her. No doubt 
 she has had her share of attention." 
 
 Larcom listened with an intentness of 
 which he felt ashamed. His ears had 
 not deceived him, then ; there was a Miss 
 Vernon in the dining-car. The old lady 
 had called her Annie, and this was the 
 name by which Rudolph Vernon s sister 
 had been christened. " Anita " was little 
 more than a nickname given to her by a 
 schoolmate, becaube of the black eyes 
 and brown skin, which seemed to insist 
 on a Spanish name. Yet " Vernon " was 
 not very uncommon, and it might well 
 be that there were other Annie Vernons 
 in the world besides the one he was 
 longing for. 
 
 " And she deserved it all, no doubt," 
 Miss Marlenspuyk responded. " She s a 
 bright little body. Nothing is more sad 
 dening than foolish gayety, I find, and 
 so many girls nowadays are giddy and 
 giggling. But Annie Vernon is whole 
 some. Yet I don t believe even she can
 
 28 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 thaw out the old couple she is travelling 
 with." 
 
 "Who are they?" asked Mrs. Hitch 
 cock. " They seem very plain people ; 
 not used to society, I thought." 
 
 " His name s Carkendal," Miss Marlen- 
 spuyk answered. " He s from Rhinebeck, 
 or Peekskill, or somewhere up there, I 
 believe, and he s the new Second Vice- 
 President of the Methuselah Life-insur 
 ance Company. That s the company of 
 which Annie Vernon s father was Presi 
 dent until he died three years ago, you 
 know." 
 
 " I remember now," said Mrs. Hitch 
 cock. 
 
 " Mr. Carkendal is taking his wife with 
 him on his annual tour to inspect all the 
 agencies of the Methuselah company in 
 the West," Miss Marlenspuyk continued. 
 " And I suppose Annie Vernon is going 
 out to Denver with them." 
 
 This last sentence Hallett Larcom did 
 not catch, for as soon as he heard that 
 the Annie Vernon on that train was the
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM UOSTON 2Q 
 
 daughter of the late President of the 
 Methuselah Life-insurance Company, he 
 knew that the woman he loved was near 
 him. He sprang to his feet, and left the 
 sleeper. 
 
 " Dear me !" cried Mrs. Hitchcock. 
 " That young man jumped up so sudden 
 ly it quite startled me." 
 
 " I wonder what it was we said that 
 scared him," Miss Marlenspuyk respond 
 ed. " Unless I m very much mistaken, he 
 has been taking in our conversation in 
 tently for the last five minutes." 
 
 " Listeners never hear any good of 
 themselves, " quoted Mrs. Hitchcock. 
 
 " And rarely of other people, either," 
 added Miss Marlenspuyk.
 
 IN THE 
 DINING-CAR FROM NEW YORK
 
 IN THE DINING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 33 
 
 II 
 
 IN THE DINING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 
 
 HALLETT LARCOM was resolved to see 
 Anita Vernon again, and at once. Put 
 ting his pride in his pocket, he intended 
 to make an urgent appeal for her forgive 
 ness. He did not know how she would 
 receive him, but he was determined to 
 insist on an interview, brief though it 
 might be, and inconveniently public as 
 it must be in a crowded railroad car. 
 He knew that Mrs. Carkendal, who was 
 Anita s aunt, did not like him, and had 
 always been opposed to his marriage with 
 her niece, and he decided that it would 
 be wiser to keep her in ignorance of his 
 presence, if this were possible. 
 
 The Boston sleeper had been attached 
 to the end of the train, and when Lar-
 
 34 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 com passed across the vestibuled plat 
 form, he found that he had to traverse 
 three long New York and Chicago sleep 
 ers before he came to the dining-car. 
 Even when he reached this he had to 
 go down a narrow passage by the side of 
 the kitchen and the pantry before he 
 came to the broad central space where 
 the tables were set. 
 
 He was all aglow for a sight of her 
 face again, and with the ardent desire for 
 a reconciliation. He had glanced right 
 and left as he went through the train, 
 fearing that she might have finished her 
 luncheon and returned to her place. But 
 when he came to the dining compart 
 ment, there she was before him. 
 
 He dropped into the nearest vacant 
 chair without taking his eyes from her. 
 She was seated on the other side of the 
 car, three tables away from him. Her 
 place faced his, and in front of her sat 
 Mr. and Mrs. Carkendal, whose forbid 
 ding backs were turned towards the 
 door through which Larcom had entered.
 
 IN THK DINING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 35 
 
 At first she did not see him. She was 
 looking out of the window, still dotted 
 with little drops of rain. As he gazed, 
 he thought he discovered a weary droop 
 of the eyelids, and he was sure that she 
 was paler and thinner than when they 
 had parted a few weeks before at Narra- 
 gansett Pier. He saw that she had suf 
 fered from the separation, and he longed 
 to take her in his arms again to comfort 
 her. 
 
 The new Second Vice-President of the 
 Methuselah Life-insurance Company was 
 concluding an elaborate luncheon, in 
 which pleasant task his wife had been 
 aiding and abetting him ; but the little 
 food on her niece s plate was scarcely 
 touched. Larcom saw Mrs. Carkendal 
 speak to Anita, evidently urging her to 
 eat, but the girl shook her head languid 
 ly, still staring out of the rain-besprin 
 kled window. 
 
 Larcom could not take his eyes from 
 her face even when the waiter came and 
 stood by the side of his table. At last
 
 36 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 the lover became aware of the attendant s 
 presence, and waved him away impa 
 tiently. 
 
 " I don t want anything," he cried. 
 Then, suddenly recalling his situation, 
 and finding himself seated at a table in 
 a dining-car, he said, hastily, "Oh, well, 
 you may bring me what you like." 
 
 "Soup?" asked the man, a little sur 
 prised. 
 
 "Yes, soup," he answered; "that will 
 do." 
 
 A moment after the waiter had gone 
 back to the pantry to give the order, Ani 
 ta Vernon moved uneasily, as though un 
 comfortable under Larcom s direct stare. 
 As she turned her head from the window, 
 he was gazing at her imploringly, with 
 the adoration of love in his eyes. Their 
 glances met, and for a second they looked 
 each other full in the face. 
 
 She flushed instantly, and then she 
 dropped her glance, and the color fled 
 from her cheeks. His heart beat quick 
 ly, but he continued to watch her with
 
 IN THE DINING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 37 
 
 the same silent submission in his eyes. 
 She broke off a bit of the roll beside her 
 plate, and crumbled it nervously in her 
 fingers. The blood slowly came back to 
 her face, and then deserted it again. She 
 reached out for the glass of water before 
 her, and took two or three little sips. As 
 she set down the glass, she raised her 
 eyes again, and again they met his ; and 
 this time she could not but see his ap 
 pealing expression, pathetic in its self- 
 surrender. In that second glance, brief 
 as it was, she recognized that he had 
 suffered also. There was a line in his 
 forehead she had never seen before ; he 
 seemed worn and heart-sore. She was 
 sorry for him. 
 
 In the golden days of their summer 
 courting at Narragansett Pier, when they 
 were often in the midst of a crowd of 
 merry young people on the beach, at the 
 Casino, on the " Rocks," off yachting, or 
 away on some excursion, he had devised 
 a little signal whereby he could commu 
 nicate his desire to have speech with her
 
 .}8 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 alone, if only for a minute or two. If she 
 noticed that he had taken off his eye 
 glasses temporarily and hung them on 
 the upper button of his coat, she under 
 stood that he wanted a word in her pri 
 vate ear ; and if then she raised her hand 
 to adjust a chance hair-pin, this told him 
 that she had seen his signal. 
 
 Now when they sat apart in the din 
 ing-car after the long weeks of disheart 
 ening separation, he removed his glasses, 
 and by an almost automatic movement he 
 hung them on the accustomed button of 
 his coat. Apparently she was not look 
 ing in his direction, but she was some 
 how conscious of this signal. Again the 
 color flushed her cheeks, and fled at once, 
 leaving them paler than before, and then 
 a hesitating hand stole up to thrust back 
 a straggling wisp of hair. All at once hope 
 returned to the man who was following 
 her every motion with wistful glance, and 
 now he made sure that she was willing 
 that he should speak to her. 
 
 The waiter brought Larcom the soup,
 
 IN THE DINING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 39 
 
 and was sent away impatiently. Soon it 
 was apparent to the young lover that Mr. 
 and Mrs. Carkendal had finished their 
 repast. The waiter withdrew from their 
 table with obvious dissatisfaction, bear 
 ing in his hand the exact money needed 
 to liquidate their bill. Seemingly the 
 new Second Vice-President of the Me 
 thuselah Life-insurance Company asked 
 Anita Vernon if she were ready to re 
 turn to their own car. She nodded, and 
 rose to her feet ; and then once more, 
 and for the fourth time, her cheeks flamed 
 up and whitened again. 
 
 As it happened, the dining-car had 
 been slowly emptying itself, and a scant 
 half-dozen passengers remained in it 
 when Mr. and Mrs. Carkendal left their 
 table and turned to go out. Oddly 
 enough, the hat which Hallett Larcom 
 had been holding on his lap for a few 
 seconds fell to the floor, and he had to 
 bend down to pick it up. So far did he 
 stoop that Mrs. Carkendal followed her 
 husband down the aisle to the door of
 
 40 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 the dining-car without catching sight of 
 the man to whom her niece had been en 
 gaged. Miss Vernon came after her 
 aunt. Her hand hung by her side, and 
 as she passed, it was seized by the young 
 fellow who had gone down on his knees 
 but a moment earlier. She withdrew it 
 gently, but not before he had managed 
 to imprint a kiss on it, and not before he 
 had felt a faint answering pressure of her 
 tapering fingers. 
 
 " I must speak to you," he whispered, 
 as she went on, " and now !" 
 
 She made no response, walking firmly, 
 as though she had not heard. 
 
 " Aunty," she cried, suddenly, pausing 
 just as Mr. and Mrs. Carkendal reached 
 the door, " I think I ll change my mind, 
 and have a cup of coffee, after all." 
 
 Mrs. Carkendal turned back. "Very 
 well, my child," she said. " Shall I wait 
 here with you ?" 
 
 " Oh no," responded the girl. " You 
 go on with Uncle Carkendal. I shall be 
 back in a few minutes."
 
 IN THE DINING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 4! 
 
 " Don t be long," said aunty, as she 
 turned again to follow the new Second 
 Vice-President of the Methuselah Life- 
 insurance Comoany through the vesti- 
 buled passage to the adjoining sleeper, 
 where their sections were. 
 
 Then Miss Vernon walked quietly back 
 to the seat she had just vacated, and or 
 dered a cup of coffee. 
 
 At last, looking up, as though by 
 chance, she saw her lover s eager eyes 
 still fixed upon her. 
 
 " Why, Mr. Larcom !" she cried. " Is 
 that really you ? Who would ever have 
 thought of seeing you here ?" 
 
 The few other passengers in the din 
 ing car saw nothing to call for remark in 
 this chance meeting of a young man and 
 a young woman. The portly clergyman 
 who was then paying his bill thought that 
 the young fellow was very lucky to know 
 such a pretty girl. 
 
 " They are a good-looking couple," he 
 said to himself as he passed them on his 
 way forward to the smoking-car. " Why
 
 42 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 isn t he enterprising enough to make her 
 marry him ?" 
 
 Larcom was by her side almost as soon 
 as she had spoken his name. " Yes, it is 
 I," he answered ; " and I am happy to be 
 here since I see you again. Oh, Nita, 
 Nita, I have longed for you all these 
 weeks ! And now I have found you 
 again, I shall make you listen to me." 
 
 Just then the waiter brought the cup of 
 coffee she had ordered. When at length 
 he departed, overpaid and smiling she 
 looked at her lover and spoke rapidly : 
 
 " You need not make me listen to you 
 at all. Indeed you needn t say a word ; 
 I know what you want to tell me. I ve 
 known for weeks now that the miserable 
 story isn t true that I was foolish enough 
 to believe. It is I who want you to lis 
 ten to me till you promise to forgive me 
 for having been so mean as to think that 
 you could ever be so base as I thought 
 you were. Oh, I don t know how I ever 
 did it, and I don t see why you didn t in 
 sist on explaining everything."
 
 IN THE DINING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 43 
 
 " I know," he answered, penitently 
 " I know, Anita ; it s all my fault. I was 
 proud, and I ve been ashamed of it ever 
 since. But now I have you again, I " 
 
 " But you haven t me now," she broke 
 in. " I m going out West. I m travel 
 ling with my aunt, you know. I can t 
 stay here gossiping with you. They will 
 be wondering where I am." 
 
 " I must talk to you," he returned, for 
 cibly. " And you must listen to me." 
 
 " Oh, if I must," she answered, " I sup 
 pose I must. But you needn t be so vio 
 lent about it." 
 
 " Nita, if you only knew " he be 
 gan. 
 
 " Where is your seat ?" she interrupted. 
 
 " In the rear car, he replied. 
 
 " The Boston car?" she continued. 
 
 " Yes," he answered. 
 
 "That s the one Miss Marlenspuyk is 
 in," she returned. " She s a great friend 
 of mine, and perhaps mind, I say only 
 perhaps I may go back there by-and-by, 
 just to have a little chat with her."
 
 44 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 " Nita, you are an angel," he answered, 
 trying to take her hand again. 
 
 She foiled this attempt with quiet dig 
 nity. " I think it will be best if Uncle 
 Carkendal and aunty don t know that 
 you are on the train," she said. "So 
 you had better stay here till we get to 
 Utica, which will be in a few minutes now. 
 Then you can step out there, and slip 
 back to your seat through the crowd in 
 the station, so they won t see you. I 
 sha n t pay my visit to Miss Marlenspuyk 
 until after we leave Utica." 
 
 She touched her lips to the coffee, and 
 then rose to go. 
 
 " Don t leave me yet," he cried. 
 
 " I must," she answered. " But if you 
 are a good boy, I ll introduce you to 
 Miss Marlenspuyk after we get to Utica. 
 She s the most delightful old maid I 
 know." 
 
 And with that she was gone, leaving 
 him quite alone in the dining-car.
 
 IN THE 
 SLEEPING-CAR. FROM BOSTON
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 47 
 
 III 
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 
 
 WHEN the train drew into the dark 
 station at Utica about half -past three, 
 Hallett Larcom stepped down from the 
 platform of the dining-car, and threaded 
 his way through the crowd about the 
 tracks, and thus regained the Boston 
 sleeper at the far end of the train. He 
 dropped into his seat just in time to 
 hear Miss Marlenspuyk remark : 
 
 " My father used to say that no wom 
 an had a right to dress so as to attract at 
 tention, unless she was beautiful enough 
 to reward it." 
 
 "That is a hard saying," Mrs. Hitch 
 cock responded. 
 
 " I took it to heart in the days of my 
 youth, when I was homely," Miss Mar-
 
 48 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 lenspuyk returned, "and I ve on it acted 
 ever since." 
 
 " I won t believe that you were ever a 
 homely girl," asserted Mrs. Hitchcock. 
 
 " You may believe it, for I was plain 
 enough, goodness knows ! My brother 
 told me once he never could keep the 
 clock wound up when I was at home." 
 
 "Indeed?" Mrs. Hitchcock returned, 
 doubtfully. " How curious !" 
 
 " It wasn t until I was nearly three 
 score and ten that I had any looks at 
 all," Miss Marlenspuyk continued. "Of 
 course, now I know that I am a very pre 
 sentable old tabby." 
 
 Mrs. Hitchcock s reply was lost in the 
 sudden starting of the train, and indeed 
 Hallett Larcom hardly heard the conver 
 sation of the two ladies who were talk 
 ing barely a yard behind his ears. He 
 was conscious of nothing but his own ex 
 ceeding joyfulness. He had seen Nita 
 again, and they had made up, and they 
 would never quarrel more. His heart 
 swelled with abundant happiness, and he
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 49 
 
 was oblivious of all things else. He 
 failed to remark that the clouds were 
 now clearing away, and that the wester 
 ing sun shone out for the first time that 
 day. He did not see the lovely views 
 which passed before his staring eyes, and 
 he was careless that the trees showed the 
 first faint flush of the fall, and that the 
 yellowing leaves were whirled along in 
 the wake of the train. 
 
 He did not even hear Mrs. Hitchcock s 
 declaration that her head ached, and that 
 she would therefore go back to her own 
 private compartment at the rear of the 
 car. He did not see this declaration car 
 ried into effect, and he did not note the 
 stoppage of the stream of talk behind 
 him. He was thinking of Nita, and only 
 of her. He was wondering how soon he 
 could see her again how soon she would 
 come to the car where he was awaiting 
 her. He kept watch of the door, and was 
 disappointed as it opened only to admit 
 the conductor, or a passenger returning 
 from the smoking car, or the train boy,
 
 5O IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 who proffered for sale a tall armful of 
 novels, which were distributed about for 
 examination that a casual purchaser 
 might be tempted. As it chanced, the 
 volume which was laid on the lap of 
 Hallett Larcom was Their Wedding 
 Journey. As he glanced down involun 
 tarily and caught the title of the book, 
 he thought bitterly of the irony of fate. 
 If it had not been for the foolish quarrel, 
 now all explained away, he would then be 
 going on his bridal tour. Oddly enough, 
 the trip would have been along the same 
 road, for Nita and he had determined to 
 go to Niagara on their way to his home 
 in Denver. 
 
 It must have been near four o clock 
 when the vestibule door at the head of 
 the car was pushed open, and Anita Ver- 
 non stood for a moment in the door 
 way. 
 
 Hallet Larcom sprang forward, but be 
 fore he could reach her she had already 
 recognized Miss Marlenspuyk in the sec 
 tion behind him.
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 51 
 
 " Why, Mr. Larcom !" she cried, as 
 though surprised to see him. " Who 
 would ever have thought of seeing you 
 here?" 
 
 She shook hands with him speechless, 
 and brushed past to Miss Marlenspuyk, 
 conscious that her cheeks were not. burn 
 ing, although nearly every eye in the car 
 was raised at her entrance. 
 
 " Annie Vernon," said Miss Marlen 
 spuyk, " it s very good of you to come 
 back here to see an old woman." 
 
 " But you are the dearest old woman 
 in the world," returned Anita Vernon, 
 dropping into the place Mrs. Hitchcock 
 had recently vacated. 
 
 Not knowing exactly what to make of 
 this, her lover stood helpless in the aisle. 
 She looked up, and saw his masculine 
 predicament. 
 
 " Miss Marlenspuyk," she said, " may I 
 present Mr. Larcom to you ?" 
 
 He bowed, and shook the hand the old 
 lady held out to him, and sank into the 
 seat before them.
 
 52 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 " Mr. Hallett Larcom ?" inquired Miss 
 Marlenspuyk, with intention. 
 
 " Yes," answered the young lady, and 
 her dark eyes met Miss Marlenspuyk s 
 gaze without flinching. 
 
 " But I thought " began the elderly 
 woman. " However, it s none of my busi 
 ness." 
 
 "You are an old friend and a good 
 friend too," asserted Anita, sinking her 
 voice, "and I can tell you everything." 
 
 " That would take a long while," re 
 turned Miss Marlenspuyk ; " but I con 
 fess I am a little curious to know how it 
 is that you and Mr. Larcom here happen 
 to be on the same train." 
 
 " It s all an accident, I assure you, Miss 
 Marlenspuyk," he broke in. " I had no 
 idea Nita was on board until I heard you 
 mention her name. And then I just had 
 to go and look her up." 
 
 "You know we were engaged," said 
 Anita, shyly, " and I was foolish enough 
 to believe some silly stuff Uncle Carken- 
 dal had heard about Hallett, and "
 
 IiN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 53 
 
 " Oh, it was he who told you, was it?" 
 Hallett interrupted. 
 
 " I didn t mean to let you know that," 
 she answered ; " but he only reported 
 what he had heard, and I was goose 
 enough to think that there might be 
 something in it, and Hallett 
 
 " And I was too proud to defend my 
 self," he interrupted again. " And so it 
 was broken off, and I haven t had a hap 
 py hour since." 
 
 " Neither have I," she responded. " But 
 now we have explained everything, and I 
 shall never be so silly again." 
 
 " I see, "said Miss Marlenspuyk ; "and 
 it seems to me that it was a very lucky 
 railroad accident for you both that you 
 should both happen to be passengers on 
 the same train." 
 
 " Nita," declared Hallett Larcom, lean 
 ing forward, "you haven t told me how 
 it is that you are here." 
 
 " Haven t I ?" she answered. " I m here 
 because I knew you were very proud, and 
 I d treated you so badly you d never come 
 
 7
 
 54 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 to me, and I knew I couldn t be happy 
 without you one single day, so when Un 
 cle Carkendal was going to start off on 
 his rounds, I asked aunty to take me 
 along, because, you see, I thought that per 
 haps while we were in Denver I might 
 
 " You are going to Denver?" he cried. 
 " Nita, you are an angel !" 
 
 " No, she isn t, "said Miss Marlenspuyk. 
 " She s only a woman." 
 
 "Well, I m satisfied with her just as 
 she is," he returned, emphatically. 
 
 " And so the engagement is on again ?" 
 was Miss Marlenspuyk s next inquiry. 
 
 " Of course it is," asserted the lover. 
 
 " Is it ?" queried the young lady. " I 
 suppose it must be." 
 
 "Don t you want to marry me?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " I don t want another engagement," 
 she responded, " with congratulations, 
 and presents, and fixing the day once 
 more, and all that. I couldn t stand it 
 again." 
 
 " You are the only wedding present I
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 57 
 
 want," he declared. " And as for fixing 
 the day, I ll elope with you to-morrow, if 
 you ll have me at such short notice." 
 
 " There is plenty of time to talk of 
 that," she responded, rising. " I ll see 
 you again before we arrive in Chicago 
 to-morrow morning." 
 
 " But you are not going to leave us 
 now ?" he asked, piteously. 
 
 " I must," she answered, taking off her 
 long musketeer gloves. " Uncle Carken- 
 dal will be wondering what has become 
 of me." 
 
 " And sha n t I see you again to 
 night ?" he besought. 
 
 She let her gloves fall upon the seat 
 from which she had just risen. " If I 
 forget them here," she said, " I suppose I 
 shall have to come back for them." 
 
 Miss Marlenspuyk smiled. "Your 
 mother was a woman," was her comment. 
 
 " How soon will you come ?" Larcom 
 inquired, eagerly. 
 
 " Not till after dinner," she answered. 
 " I ll come back just to say good-night
 
 54 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 to me, and I knew I couldn t be happy 
 without you one single day, so when Un 
 cle Carkendal was going to start off on 
 his rounds, I asked aunty to take me 
 along, because, you see, I thought that per 
 haps while we were in Denver I might 
 
 " You are going to Denver?" he cried. 
 " Nita, you are an angel !" 
 
 " No, she isn t," said Miss Marlenspuyk. 
 " She s only a woman." 
 
 "Well, I m satisfied with her just as 
 she is," he returned, emphatically. 
 
 " And so the engagement is on again ?" 
 was Miss Marlenspuyk s next inquiry. 
 
 " Of course it is," asserted the lover. 
 
 " Is it ?" queried the young lady. " I 
 suppose it must be." 
 
 "Don t you want to marry me?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " I don t want another engagement," 
 she responded, " with congratulations, 
 and presents, and fixing the day once 
 more, and all that. I couldn t stand it 
 again." 
 
 " You are the only wedding present I
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 57 
 
 want," he declared. " And as for fixing 
 the day, I ll elope with you to-morrow, if 
 you ll have me at such short notice." 
 
 " There is plenty of time to talk of 
 that," she responded, rising. " I ll see 
 you again before we arrive in Chicago 
 to-morrow morning." 
 
 " But you are not going to leave us 
 now?" he asked, piteously. 
 
 " I must," she answered, taking off her 
 long musketeer gloves. " Uncle Carken- 
 dal will be wondering what has become 
 of me." 
 
 " And sha n t I see you again to 
 night?" he besought. 
 
 She let her gloves fall upon the seat 
 from which she had just risen. " If I 
 forget them here, "she said, "I suppose I 
 shall have to come back for them." 
 
 Miss Marlenspuyk smiled. "Your 
 mother was a woman," was her comment. 
 
 " How soon will you come ?" Larcom 
 inquired, eagerly. 
 
 " Not till after dinner," she answered. 
 " I ll come back just to say good-night
 
 58 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 before we get to Buffalo. And now I 
 must leave you, and I want you to be 
 very nice to Miss Marlenspuyk, and very 
 attentive, for she s a dear friend of mine, 
 and she s just as good as she can be." 
 
 And with that she kissed the old lady, 
 and shook hands with the wondering 
 lover, and vanished through the vestibule 
 door. 
 
 He stood looking after her for a mo 
 ment in silence. Then he took the seat 
 beside Miss Marlenspuyk. 
 
 " Don t you think you are a very lucky 
 young man ?" she asked. 
 
 " Don t I ?" was his energetic answer. 
 
 "I m very fond of nice girls, and I 
 know lots of them, but I don t know one 
 nicer than Annie Vernon. When are 
 you two going to be married ?" 
 
 The young man smiled bitterly. " We 
 -were going to be married to-day I be 
 lieve the cards were printed but now 
 I don t know when the wedding will be. 
 Nita says she doesn t want another en 
 gagement and more cards; and she s
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 59 
 
 travelling with old Carkendal, and he 
 disapproves of me, it seems; and I m 
 afraid he ll disapprove of me all the more 
 when he gets out to Denver. But wait 
 till I get her out there, and I ll make her 
 marry me off-hand on the spot." 
 
 "An engagement is only a skirmish, you 
 know," Miss Marlenspuyk said, "while 
 matrimony is a pitched battle ; and love, 
 like war, has its food for powder. Do 
 you think you are going to be happy ?" 
 
 " I m certain of it," he replied, forcibly. 
 
 " And she ?" asked the old lady. 
 
 " I shall do my best to make her hap 
 py," he answered, with ardor; "and if 
 love can give happiness, she is sure of it. 
 Why do you doubt ?" 
 
 " I don t know," she responded, with a 
 note of sadness in her voice. " For the 
 most part happiness is either a hope or a 
 memory ; it is rarely a present possession, 
 even during the honey-moon ; and you 
 two have quarrelled once already." 
 
 " That was a stupid mistake," he de 
 clared ; " it will never happen again."
 
 60 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 " Perhaps not," the old lady assented, 
 " and yet Well, you seem to be a 
 straightforward young fellow, decent and 
 manly, and you certainly are very much in 
 love. Why do you wait till you get to Den 
 ver ? To-day was your appointed wed 
 ding-daywhy not marry Annie to-day?" 
 
 "To-day?" he echoed, taken by sur 
 prise. 
 
 " Yes," she answered. 
 
 " On the cars ?" he went on. 
 
 " Why not ?" was her retort. 
 
 " But how ?" he asked. " There isn t a 
 clergyman on the train." 
 
 " Yes, there is. I saw him at lunch," 
 she responded. 
 
 "And where could he marry us?" the 
 young man inquired, having at last seized 
 the fact that the old lady s suggestion 
 was possible. 
 
 " My friend Mrs. Hitchcock has a pri 
 vate compartment in the rear of this car," 
 said Miss Marlenspuyk. " I will borrow 
 it from her if you will get the clergy 
 man."
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 6l 
 
 "And will Nita consent?" he asked, 
 doubtfully. 
 
 " Ah," returned the old lady, "as to 
 that I don t know. You will have to 
 talk her over." 
 
 " And I ll do it, too," said Hallett Lar- 
 com, emphatically. " Miss Marlenspuyk, 
 Nita was right to call you good. You are 
 more than that ; you ve got lots of busi 
 ness sense." 
 
 Miss Marlenspuyk smiled. " I hope I 
 am not so old," she said, " that I cannot 
 understand young folks ways." 
 
 "Who is this clergyman you saw?" he 
 inquired. "Do you know him? Can t 
 you give me a few pointers about 
 him ?" 
 
 " He is Dr. Pennington," she respond 
 ed " Dr. Rittenhouse Huger Penning 
 ton, of Philadelphia and I know him 
 pretty well. He is a portly man of about 
 fifty, with grayish side whiskers. He was 
 a lawyer before he entered the ministry. 
 He is a clever man perhaps a little too 
 well aware of his cleverness."
 
 62 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 " I see," Larcom assented. " Then 1 
 suppose I can flatter him up?" 
 
 " Flattery is a skeleton-key that opens 
 the hearts of most men," the old maid 
 answered. " If you insert it skilfully into 
 Dr. Pennington, you can probably get 
 anything out of him you want." 
 
 " I think I have him down fine," he 
 said. " Philadelphian used to be a law 
 yerthinks a good deal of himself. Oh, 
 I say, perhaps he won t think much of 
 me. He doesn t know me from Adam 
 except by the costume." 
 
 " Are you a son of General Larcom ?" 
 she asked. 
 
 " How did you know?" he returned. 
 
 "Your mother was an Otis, wasn t she?" 
 
 He nodded. 
 
 Then she went on. " Well, let him 
 know that, and he will be glad to see 
 you : he s a Philadelphian. My mother 
 was a Philadelphian, you see, and so I 
 have a sort of doomsday-book memory." 
 
 "What is Dr. Pennington s church?" 
 he inquired.
 
 IN THE SI.EEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 63 
 
 " He is the rector of St. Boniface s," 
 she replied. 
 
 " Then I suppose he will have on a 
 white choker and a regular clergyman s 
 outfit?" he continued. "I guess I can 
 recognize him." He took out his watch 
 and looked at it. " It s ten minutes to 
 five now. At four-fifty-five we are due in 
 Syracuse, and then I ll slip through the 
 crowd once more, and get into the smoker 
 without letting Uncle Carkendal catch 
 sight of me. If the dominie is there, I ll 
 tackle him ; I ve got two hours to do it 
 in, for we don t get to Rochester till six- 
 fifty. If he has left the smoker, I ll pur 
 sue him to his lair, even if I have to face 
 the Carkendals, male and female. Has 
 the doctor any special hobby?" 
 
 " Let s see," the old lady replied. " He 
 plays whist, and he is President of the 
 Prison Reform League, and he is very 
 Broad Church ; but what he is most in 
 terested in is himself." 
 
 " A real philanthropist, I suppose," the 
 young man commented ; " he believes in
 
 64 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 the greatest good of the greatest num 
 ber, only in his eyes the greatest number 
 is No. i. It s lucky I ve only two hours 
 with him ; he might be a terrible bore." 
 
 " You can always treat an egotist on 
 the homoeopathic plan," said Miss Mar- 
 lenspuyk, as the train slackened its speed 
 on entering Syracuse. "Talk to him 
 about yourself, you know." 
 
 " I won t try the remedy till after I ve 
 got him to promise to marry us," Lar- 
 com returned; "and I ll make him do 
 that, if I have to use personal violence." 
 
 " And if that fails," the old lady sug 
 gested, " you can tell him that I am in 
 this car, and that I would like to see him 
 for a few minutes. Perhaps I may be 
 able to persuade him." 
 
 Then the train stopped in the station 
 at Syracuse. Hallett Larcom started for 
 the door of the car. Miss Marlenspuyk 
 reached down to her travelling bag and 
 took out of it a simply bound copy of Le 
 Monde oil I on sennuie.
 
 IN THE 
 SMOKING-CAR FROM NEW YORK
 
 IN THE SMOKING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 67 
 
 IV 
 
 IN THE SMOKING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 
 
 THE car at the head of the New York 
 and Chicago Limited was divided, and 
 subserved several uses. The forward 
 half of it contained the baggage ; the two 
 small compartments " amidships," so to 
 speak, were arranged, one as a bath-room 
 and the other as a barber-shop ; and then 
 came the more spacious saloon reserved 
 for the smokers, and furnished with a buf 
 fet or, in other words with abar behind 
 which stood the sable attendant, who was 
 ready to prepare a mixed drink for the 
 traveller, or to provide him with any book 
 that might be chosen from the little li 
 brary of modern literature that filled two 
 or three shelves. Here also were desks 
 supplied with abundant writing materials.
 
 68 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 When Hallett Larcom entered this 
 smoking-car at Syracuse there were only 
 six or seven men in it, lounging about in 
 the comfortable wicker arm-chairs ; and 
 it was with pleasure that he discovered 
 the Rev. Rittenhouse Huger Penning- 
 ton among them. There was no diffi 
 culty whatever in recognizing him from 
 Miss Marlenspuyk s description. He was 
 obviously a clergyman, and as obviously 
 a Philadelphian. He was portly and 
 handsome, full-bodied and full-blooded, 
 with an air of high breeding, and with 
 the manner of one accustomed to defer 
 ence. Larcom saw at once that Dr. Pen- 
 nington was certainly Broad Church, that 
 he probably played whist, and that he 
 was a proper President of the Prison Re 
 form League, at once dignified and ener 
 getic. The young Denver lawyer " took 
 stock " of the Philadelphia clergyman 
 he " sized him up," to use his own idiom 
 and he decided that whatever the rec 
 tor of St. Boniface might undertake to do 
 would be thoroughly well done, and that
 
 IN THE SMOKING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 69 
 
 therefore the rector of St. Boniface would 
 be an excellent person to perform the 
 rite of marriage between Hallett Larcom 
 and Anita Vernon. He concluded also, 
 after as careful a study of Dr. Penning- 
 ton s face as he dared attempt, that it 
 would be no easy matter to persuade the 
 clergyman to marry them, but that it 
 might be done if one went to work about 
 it in the right way. 
 
 When the train rolled out of the Syra 
 cuse station at five o clock, Dr. Penning- 
 ton had been engaged in conversation by 
 a casual stranger, a littie sandy man, who 
 was smoking a rapid succession of ciga 
 rettes. To this person s loquacity Dr. 
 Pennington, who was finishing a remark 
 ably good cigar, listened with an air of 
 amused superiority, of which the little 
 man was wholly unconscious. 
 
 Hallett Larcom dropped into a seat 
 opposite to them, and began his study of 
 the clergyman so that he might devise a 
 plan of attack. 
 
 The little sandy man had just laid
 
 70 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 down a newspaper. " There s England, 
 now," he was saying, "she can t keep her 
 hands off the rest of the world. She s 
 always prying and meddling and grab 
 bing something somewhere. There isn t 
 anything too big for Great Britain to 
 swallow, and there isn t anything too lit 
 tle, either. She just takes anything she 
 can lay her hands on." 
 
 " Except a joke," remarked the Phila- 
 delphian, blandly. 
 
 " How ?" asked the other. 
 
 " England is not quick at taking a 
 jest," explained the clergyman. " The 
 British are known to be often impervious 
 to humor." 
 
 "Oh, I see," said the little man. 
 " That s so, too. As my brother says 
 he is in the hardware business at Utica, 
 and got almost the biggest store in the 
 city, too as my brother says, If you ve 
 got to explain a joke to an Englishman, 
 you want to start in early in the morning 
 and take your dinner pail along. "
 
 IN THE SMOKING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 71 
 
 " Indeed," assented Dr. Pennington, 
 courteously. 
 
 " And he s got a joke for em, too," the 
 little man went on, " a real practical joke, 
 if they ll only take it. His idea is to find 
 an English syndicate to buy out all the 
 retail hardware stores in the United 
 States. He ll sell his, too at a price. 
 He ain t afraid of British gold, he ain t." 
 
 The Philadelphia clergyman continued 
 to listen with amused tolerance, like an 
 explorer on his first meeting with some 
 strange new manner of man. 
 
 By this time Larcom had concluded 
 his examination of Dr. Pennington, and 
 he had made his deductions therefrom. 
 He believed that he would be able to 
 persuade the clergyman to perform the 
 marriage. Believing this, he made ready 
 for the event. Certain that the Phila- 
 delphian would not leave the smoking 
 car until his cigar was finished, Larcom 
 left his seat and went over to one of the 
 little desks. Taking pen and paper, he 
 thought for a moment, and then he wrote
 
 72 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 a letter, pausing now and again as though 
 to pick a word, and smiling as if it were 
 a joke which he enjoyed hugely. When 
 the letter was written he read it over 
 carefully, and enclosed it in an envelope, 
 which he addressed to John Abram Car- 
 kendal, Esq. Then he placed it in his 
 pocket. 
 
 Thinking that Dr. Pennington must 
 now be nearing the end of his cigar, Lar- 
 com left the half -screened section in 
 which the desks were made private, and 
 returned to the main smoking saloon. 
 He was just in time to see the sandy lit 
 tle man rise from his seat by the side of 
 the clergyman, saying : 
 
 "I really must go now. I ve got my 
 wife back there in the sleeper, and she 
 don t like to be left more than two or 
 three hours at a whack. You know what 
 women are. But I m mighty glad to 
 have seen you, and if you ever get out to 
 Sheboygan, you must come and see me. 
 My name s Cyrus C. Tuttle. I ve got the 
 biggest clothing emporium in all that
 
 IN THE SMOKING-CAR FROM NHW YOKK
 
 IN THE SMOKING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 75 
 
 section of Wisconsin, and I ll be glad to 
 show you round." 
 
 When he had gone, Larcom took the 
 seat just vacated. " Have I not the pleas 
 ure of speaking to Dr. Pennington ?" he 
 began. 
 
 " That is my name," said the Philadel- 
 phian, with a faint intonation of severity. 
 
 " I thought I could not be mistaken, 
 although I have never had the pleasure 
 of meeting you before," the young man 
 continued. 
 
 Dr. Pennington s silence indicated cold 
 but courteous expectation. 
 
 " My name is Hallett Larcom, and I 
 think you used to know my father. Gen 
 eral Larcom." 
 
 " Bless my soul !" said the clergyman, 
 with sudden cordiality. "Are you a son 
 of Eldridge Larcom ? Yes, I see a like 
 ness, now that I look for it. I went to 
 Trinity College with your father, and we 
 studied law together in Judge Hildreth s 
 office at Hartford. I gave up the law for 
 the Church, but your father had no sum-
 
 76 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 mons to the pulpit, and he remained at 
 the bar. He used to say that I preached 
 and he practised. Ha ! ha !" 
 
 Hallett Larcom s laugh at his father s 
 joke was commingled of filial piety and 
 self-seeking tact. 
 
 "And your mother," Dr. Pennington 
 continued, " she was a charming woman, 
 Miss Otis, was she not ? Ah ! I thought 
 my memory was not at fault. There 
 were three sisters, all charming women. 
 Ah, young man ! it is for you to be proud 
 that you come of so good a stock. There 
 are forms of family pride that are foolish 
 and offensive, no doubt ; but a proper re 
 spect for one s ancestors, and for one s 
 self as their descendant, is not misplaced. 
 That it is which makes me so thorough 
 ly out of patience with this Darwinian 
 theory, which otherwise has much to rec 
 ommend it. How can a man expect sym 
 pathy who insists on climbing up his own 
 family tree merely to shake hands with 
 the monkey grinning at the top?" 
 
 Thus Dr. Pennington dropped at once
 
 IN THE SMOKING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 77 
 
 into friendly talk with the son of his old 
 friend, and thus the young man let him 
 run on, acting the part of the good lis 
 tener, and supplying the proper propor 
 tion of appreciative queries. Knowing 
 that the man with a hobby is always anx 
 ious to lead a cavalry charge on it, Lar- 
 com slowly steered the conversation to 
 the subject of prison reform, and finally 
 captivated the President of the League 
 by adducing certain heretical theories, 
 and then allowing himself to be con 
 vinced of their falsity, and converted to 
 the proper opinion. 
 
 Thus the time passed, and the train 
 drew nigh to Rochester, and as yet Hal- 
 lett Larcom had seen no chance of in 
 troducing the subject nearest his heart. 
 Once or twice, when occasion served, the 
 young man had not ventured to avail 
 himself of it, in spite of himself awed 
 not a little by the impressive manner of 
 the clergyman. What he wanted Dr. 
 Pennington to do was most unconven 
 tional, and Larcom really dreaded the
 
 78 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 expression of condemnatory surprise with 
 which the rector of St. Boniface s would 
 surely greet his request. The afternoon 
 waned, and there was a beautiful sunset, 
 rosy with promise and gilt by hope ; then 
 the brief twilight descended, and veiled 
 the fleeting landscape with its haze. Still 
 the young lawyer from Denver had not 
 yet mustered up courage to ask the 
 clergyman from Philadelphia to perform 
 the marriage ceremony. 
 
 At last Dr. Pennington looked at his 
 watch. " Bless my soul !" he said. " It 
 is nearly seven o clock. I must go and 
 see what they can give me for dinner. 
 Really the table is not at all bad, when 
 you consider the many difficulties under 
 which the cooks must labor ; and of 
 course any one who is used to good liv 
 ing does not expect too much when he 
 is travelling." 
 
 At ten minutes to seven the train was 
 due in Rochester, and if Larcom did not 
 capture his clergyman then, he had lost 
 his last chance. He roused himself as
 
 IN THE SMOKING-CAR FROM NEW YORK 79 
 
 the engine slowed up on nearing the sta 
 tion. 
 
 " Doctor Pennington," he began, in 
 desperation, " I have a very great favor 
 to ask you." 
 
 " What is it?" the clergyman returned, 
 with a stiffening of manner so slight that 
 only a man made doubly observant by 
 anxiety could detect it. 
 
 Yet, slight as it was, it sufficed to check 
 Larcom again. Then he caught at a 
 means of saving time, and of gaining a 
 more favorable occasion for making the 
 final request. 
 
 " You know Miss Marlenspuyk, of New 
 York ?" he said, hurriedly. 
 
 " A charming old lady, and she is on 
 the train with us, I believe," the doctor 
 replied. 
 
 " Yes," the young man went on ; " it 
 was she who told me you were on board, 
 and she told me that she wanted to see 
 you for a moment. There was some 
 thing very particular she wished to ask 
 you."
 
 8o IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 " Bless my soul !" declared Dr. Penn- 
 ington. " Something very particular Miss 
 Marlenspuyk wishes to ask me ? I con 
 fess that I cannot conceive what it may 
 be. However, I will go back and wait 
 on her after dinner." 
 
 " Doctor," urged the young man, " I 
 should take it as a great favor if you 
 would go now. The train will stop in a 
 minute, and we can get out and walk 
 back to the Boston car, where Miss Mar 
 lenspuyk is." 
 
 The brakes grated beneath them at 
 that moment, and the train came gently 
 to a stand in the Rochester station. 
 
 " Well," Dr. Pennington yielded, " since 
 you are so urgent, I will go with you. 
 But I confess my curiosity to discover 
 why Miss Marlenspuyk desires to see me 
 thus particularly." 
 
 Elated at this temporary advantage, 
 Hallett Larcom handed the clergyman 
 his hat, and the two left the smoking-car, 
 and walked through the station towards 
 the end of the train.
 
 IN THE 
 SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON
 
 IN THE SLEEl ING-CAR FROM BOSTON 83 
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 
 
 THE train was starting forward again 
 just as Dr. Pennington and Hallett Lar- 
 com entered the rear car. Miss Marlen- 
 spuyk was waiting for them. She greet 
 ed the clergyman most cordially . 
 
 " Why, Dr. Pennington," she said, " I m 
 delighted to see you. It is really very 
 kind of you to come. I don t know what 
 these young people would have done if 
 you had not been here to help them out 
 of the difficulty." 
 
 " I confess that I can scarcely say I un 
 derstand exactly what " Dr. Penning 
 ton began. 
 
 "The fact is, Miss Marlenspuyk," in 
 terrupted Larcom, " I have not yet been 
 able to explain to Dr. Pennington just
 
 84 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 what it was we wanted him to do. I I 
 haven t had time. I told him only that 
 you wished to see him." 
 
 "And so I do," she declared, prompt 
 ly. " I ve arranged everything with Mrs. 
 Hitchcock ; she will be delighted to let 
 us have her state-room whenever we are 
 ready for the wedding." 
 
 " For the wedding ?" echoed the cler 
 gyman, in stiffening astonishment. 
 
 " Yes," Miss Marlenspuyk replied. " I 
 will explain it all to you in a minute." 
 
 " I confess that I don t see he be 
 gan again. 
 
 "But you shall see all in good time," 
 the old maid assured him. " Now, Mr. 
 Larcom, since you have left this for me 
 to do, I leave Annie Vernon in your 
 hands. She may be here any minute, and 
 I rely on you to break it to her gently, 
 and to persuade her." 
 
 " I ll do that," he declared. Adding in 
 a whisper, " I can coax her, if you will 
 only talk over the dominie." 
 
 " I understood from Mr. Larcom here,"
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 85 
 
 said Dr. Pennington. "that you desired 
 to see me, Miss Marlenspuyk, and 
 
 " And you are a dear good man to 
 come at once," the old maid broke in. 
 "To-day is the day fixed for Mr. Lar- 
 com s wedding." 
 
 " Indeed ?" exclaimed the clergyman, 
 in surprise. " Is he then taking his bri 
 dal tour alone ?" 
 
 " He and the young lady had a lovers 
 quarrel," explained Miss Marlenspuyk, 
 speaking rapidly, " and broke off the en 
 gagement. But she is on this train to 
 day by accident, and they have made up, 
 and we rely on you to marry them." 
 
 "On me?" he repeated, in astonishment. 
 
 " On you," she returned. 
 
 " But I never heard of such a thing in 
 my life," he declared. 
 
 " Neither did I," she said ; " but that s 
 no reason. Here are two young people 
 engaged to be married, and here is the 
 appointed day, and you are the only 
 clergyman available, so of course we 
 count on you."
 
 86 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 " But I can t marry a couple in another 
 man s parish," he asserted. " It would 
 be most unprofessional." 
 
 " Whose parish are you in now ?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "Really I have no idea," he an 
 swered. 
 
 " This train is going fully forty miles 
 an hour," she declared ; " probably you 
 won t be able to finish marrying them all 
 in one parish. Very likely we shall even 
 be in another diocese before the cere 
 mony is finished." 
 
 "But, my dear lady, I " he began 
 once more. 
 
 " Hush !" cried Miss Marlenspuyk. 
 " Here is the bride." 
 
 Hallett Larcom sprang to the door as 
 Anita Vernon passed in through the ves 
 tibule. 
 
 " I ve run away only for a minute," she 
 said ; " just to get my gloves." 
 
 " Never mind your gloves now," her 
 lover responded. " Nita, do you know 
 what day this is ?"
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 87 
 
 " It s the 27th of September, isn t it ?" 
 she answered. 
 
 " It s our wedding day," he said. " And 
 as we are engaged again, just as if noth 
 ing had happened, we are going to be 
 married right now." 
 
 "Now !" she repeated. " Don t be ab 
 surd." 
 
 " But you fixed the day yourself," he 
 answered, unhesitatingly, and with far 
 more courage and energy than he had 
 shown in his dealing with Dr. Pennington. 
 
 " Oh, I can t," she declared, and he de 
 tected a hint of wavering in her tone. 
 
 " You must," he asserted, forcibly. 
 
 " Why not wait till we get to Denver, 
 at least?" she urged. 
 
 " Because I don t want to take any 
 chances," he responded, firmly. " And 
 besides, when we get to Denver your un 
 cle Carkendal will be down on me more 
 than ever : I m retained in three impor 
 tant cases against the Methuselah." 
 
 " But there isn t any clergyman," she 
 said, beating about for objections.
 
 83 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 "That s the Rev. Dr. Pennington," he 
 answered, "talking to Miss Marlenspuyk 
 in the section right behind us." 
 
 "And you haven t any ring," she said, 
 " I can t be married without a ring." 
 
 For a second the lover was puzzled. 
 Then he leaned forward, and unstrapped 
 the leather valise on the seat before him, 
 and unlocked it and took out a little box. 
 
 When she saw this, she said, " Oh !" 
 
 He opened the box and lifted out a 
 diamond ring. 
 
 " Here s the engagement ring you sent 
 back to me," he explained, placing it on 
 her finger. " Now we are engaged again. 
 And you may remember that it was a lit 
 tle too large, and so I got you a plain gold 
 keeper to hold it on safely. Here is 
 that keeper, and I propose to use it as 
 wedding-ring." 
 
 " We can t be married out here, right 
 in the middle of a parlor-car," she said, 
 with obvious signs of yielding. " That 
 would be horrid." 
 
 " Mrs. Hitchcock has the private com-
 
 IN THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON 89 
 
 partmcnt at the end of the car," he 
 explained, with triumphant persistence, 
 "and she has placed this at our disposal." 
 
 " Oh, you have an answer for every 
 thing," said the bride. 
 
 " I have an answer for the dominie 
 when he asks me, by-and-by, if I ll take 
 this woman for my wedded wife," he re 
 plied. 
 
 " But I can t get married without tell 
 ing aunty, and then there s Uncle Car- 
 kendal," she objected, 
 
 " You are going to get married without 
 telling aunty or Uncle Carkendal either," 
 he declared, emphatically ; " though you 
 may go back to them after the ceremony 
 for the few minutes before we get to 
 Buffalo." 
 
 " But I d never dare tell Uncle Car 
 kendal," she said. 
 
 " You needn t tell him," he responded. 
 " What s his seat, and what s the car ?" 
 
 " The car is the Rip Van Winkle, " 
 she answered, " and his section is No. 10." 
 
 He took out of his pocket the letter he
 
 go IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 had written at the desk in the smoking 
 car, and beneath the name of John Abram 
 Carkendal he wrote, " Section 10, sleeper 
 Rip Van Winkle. " 
 
 " Do you see that ?" he asked, " That 
 is a full explanation, and that will be 
 handed to Uncle Carkendal by the por 
 ter of the car as the train pulls out of 
 Buffalo without us." 
 
 " Without us ?" she echoed, 
 
 " Don t you remember that we are go 
 ing to Niagara for our wedding trip?" he 
 explained. " You will step out of the 
 Rip Van Winkle at Buffalo at half-past 
 eight, and I will be on the platform wait 
 ing for you, and in less than an hour we 
 shall be at Niagara, ready for a walk to 
 see the Falls by moonlight." 
 
 She looked at him with admiration. 
 " You have a head for business," she 
 declared. " You quite take my breath 
 away." 
 
 Hallett Larcom had never doubted of 
 his victory, but he was rejoiced when it 
 was won. He rose to his feet, and lean-
 
 IN THE SI.EEPIXG-CAk FROM BOSTON 91 
 
 ing over the back of the seat, he called 
 to the clergyman, who was sitting there 
 by the side of Miss Marlenspuyk, with 
 whom he was still keeping up a most 
 animated discussion. 
 
 " Dr. Pennington," said the young man, 
 " I want to introduce you to Miss Nita 
 Vernon, and we are ready to proceed 
 with the ceremony whenever you are." 
 
 " Oh, Hallett !" cried Miss Vernon. 
 
 " Is not this the charming young lady 
 I noticed this afternoon in the dining- 
 car?" inquired Dr. Pennington, rising. 
 " And, bless my soul ! I remember now, 
 it was you I saw talking to her." 
 
 " You cannot refuse to marry so good- 
 looking a couple, can you, now ?" urged 
 Miss Marlenspuyk. " Besides, I shall not 
 let you go until the ceremony is per 
 formed, and I warn you that we shall be 
 in Buffalo in an hour now, and they take 
 off the dining-car there." 
 
 " Bless my soul !" said Dr. Pennington 
 again, " I didn t know that. I thought 
 it went all the way to Chicago. Well,
 
 92 IN THE VESTIBULE LIMITED 
 
 then, if you insist, I suppose I must mar 
 ry these young people, though it is all 
 very irregular, and I do hope that the 
 papers will not get hold of it." 
 
 As he walked to the rear of the car 
 with Miss Marlenspuyk, following the 
 bride and groom, he said : " She is really 
 a charming girl. I do not wonder that 
 he does not desire the wedding day to be 
 postponed. I shall certainly claim the 
 old-fashioned privilege of saluting the 
 bride." 
 
 When they reached Mrs. Hitchcock s 
 compartment, barely large enough to 
 hold them all, Miss Marlenspuyk had to 
 present them to the occupant of the 
 state-room. 
 
 " I have often heard my son Mather 
 speak of you," said Mrs. Hitchcock to 
 Anita. 
 
 "Oh, is little Mat Hitchcock your son?" 
 asked Larcom, looking at Anita, who 
 smiled gently, remembering that her 
 lover had once been jealous of young 
 Hitchcock s attentions to her early in
 
 IX THE SLEEPING-CAR FROM BOSTON" 93 
 
 the summer at Narragansett Pier, when 
 the bride and the groom were beginning 
 to fall in love. 
 
 Then Miss Marlenspuyk produced a 
 prayer-book, which she had taken from 
 her bag, where it had lain side by side 
 with Le Monde ou I on sennuie. 
 
 Dr. Pennington took the book, and be 
 gan to read the marriage service with 
 great dignity and impressiveness. Miss 
 Marlenspuyk, smiling, though a tear lay 
 close to her eyelid, acted as the only 
 bridesmaid, and at her request Mrs. 
 Hitchcock ventured to give away the 
 bride. The groom was ready with the 
 ring when it was needed. 
 
 And thus, on the appointed day, Hal- 
 lett Larcom and Anita Vernon were 
 made man and wife, while the New 
 York and Chicago Limited was rushing 
 onward through the gathering night at 
 a speed of nearly fifty miles an hour.
 
 By GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. 
 
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