The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1865-01-20

mutual. He never looked at me, but re.
deemed his ticket in a quick, angry man.
ner, and having got it, fell back and min.
gled with the crowd.
BY the time / had reached the carriage,
third from the book-stall, saw Jones ap-
proach along with the guard, who un.
locked the carriage, held open the door
for my entry, and having received the
silver complement that has now become a
vested interest on railways, closed and re-
locked it, saying that should have the
compartment to myself if l wished to
smoke. Then Jones, after asking me if
he could take any message to master,
touched his hat and vanished. / remain
ed alone, lazily gazing out of the window
at the lively scene which the well-lighted
platform presented.
'Open this door, you guard. Halloa,
guard! Open the door of this carriage,
will you
1t was thus that my reverie was bro
ken in upon. A strange traveller, with a
railway rug over his arm, was roughly
shaking the door of the compartment
where sat alone. The guard came up
rather reluctantly. Railway guards are
discriminating persons as to social condi-
ton, and the newcomers coarse manners
and husky voice were not calculated to
inspire respect.
First-class, sir?' asked the guard, and
when the man with a curse produced his
ticket, the guard was still too loyal to my
tacit compact with him to permit the in
vasion of my privacy without an effort to
preserve it.
First to c., sir? This way, please
plenty of room here And he tried to
draw she intruder towards distant car
riage that was half full. But this ma
n9uver failed.
There is plenty of room in this car
riage. Look sharp, and let me in,' said
the obstinate traveller; and the guard be-
ing an English and not Frnnch official,
succumbed, and unlocked the door.
He apologised to me in a grutf whisper,
Couldn't help myself, sir
Never mind said l, smiling, and ap-
piled myself to observing the newcomer,
who sat down, not opposite to me, but in
the middle partition, full in the glare of
the lamp. In very short time l had, as
| thought, taken the measure of this not
very delightful fellow voyager. He was
a young man, perhaps year my senior,
strongly built, and with rather hand
some face, sadly marred by very evident
traces Of dissipation. He wore coat of
sporting cut a blue 'birdseyc' scarf, with
a horseshoe pin in it, and great deal of
dubious jewelry in the shape of rings,
witch-chain and dangling trinkets. The
railway rug, that lay across the knees of
his tight-titting drab trousers, was of a
gaudy pattern, yellow and red. His eyes
We're bloodshot, his voice thick, and he
smelt very strongly of bad tobacco and
bad brandy. To all appearance he was "a
betting man, or sporting gent Of the low
er substratum of that uninviting class.
The bell rang for the last time. There
was the customary rush and scurry of be-
lated passengers and porters, and the
voices Of the newspaper boys grew shriller
and more excited. Then the guards
sprang to the steps of their vans, and the
station master looked warily up and down
the line, prepared to signal the engine
driver. At that moment a man came
darting across the platform, tore open the
door, jumped in and sat down opposite
me- A policeman ran up and shut the
door.
All right, Sanderson
The train began to move. looked at
my opposite neighbor, and could hardly
repress an exclamation of surprise and
vexation. The Russian! Yes, there
was no mistaking the man. l knew that
red-brown beard, that fiat, tigerish face,
those long, crafty eyes, black and narrow
as an American Indians, perfectly we'll
had seen the man at the ticket-win
dow, certainly, but that was more than
ten minutes ago, and / had been confident
that he had long since taken his seat in
some other compartment of the train.-
Such, however, was not the case. | was
fated, it seemed, always to be in contact
with this person, for whom 1 had con-
celved an antipathy that was perhaps un-
Just, but was not the less decided.
Had he dogged me all that evening,
tracking ME with a blood hounds peril
nacity from the jewelers. door to the rail-
way carriage? 1t was possible, though
not likely. But in vain l tried to dismiss
the idea as silly and romantic. 1t recur-
red again and again. And yet why should
he or any one dog my steps. The answer
to this selt-question soon came. The Jew
els! the costly set of pearl and ruby orn-
aments L carried about me, and of which
this man had probably overheard the gar
rulous old jeweler make mention! And
yet the Russian had hardly the air of a
plckpocket. There WIS something defiant
and arrogant in his look, and an undefna-
bic air of education clung to him in spite
OF his shabby exterior. And as for VIC,
lence, l had a young mans confidence in
my own power to cope with any single
antagonist, and, besides, l was not alone
with him. So far my thoughts had gone,
while l gazed abstractly from the window
as If marking the last lights of the Lon
don suburbs, as the dark hedges and dim
meadows succeeded to houses and facto-
ries, bu then | cast a glance around an(