Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1884-10-06


travelling, and | wondered if this man
was only pretending to be asleep,
and then, when ! was off my guard,
he would suddenly rob me, and per-
haps murder me. Or could it be that
he really was dead, and that in some
way or other his murderers had man.
aged to place him in the carriage? l
also surmised he might be under the
influence of some narcotic; and even
more ridiculous thoughts forced their
way into my brain. But one resolu-
tion | firmly resolved to adhere to-
| would not fall asleep on any ac
count whatever.
We stopped at a station for a min
ute or two. / drew aside the blinds
and looked out. The mail bags were
handed in; off we went with the
speed of the wind, yet my compan-
ion made no sign. Like the majori-
ty of human beings, | regret to say,
| took my part in macadamizing
Hades; for, despite my good resolu
tions, succumbed to the blandish-
ments of the drowsy god and was
soon fast asleep.
Some time or other during my life
had read book on the philosophy
of dreams, in which the writer said
that dreams, no matter what period
of time they seem to have extended
over, always occurred at the moment
of waking. [ cannot vouch for the
theory. | only know that began to
dream that my fellow traveller was
standing over me, that he was drag
ging off my muffing; and so vivid
and real was my terror that I started
up with little scream, to find my
heavy railway rug slipping off me
from the oscillation of the carriage,
and, glancing at my companion, to
perceive that his hat was slightly
raised and his eyes were wide open.
Yet his position was unchanged !;
so were his travelling rugs. They
were not in any way affected by the
motion of the train. Apparently he
never took the least notice of my
scream, but stared calmly at me with
a pair of the most mountaineering,
beautiful, fawnlike, soft brown eyes
it has ever been my lot to behold in
the head of any human being.
again seated myself on the seat
and tried to concentrate my attention
upon one of the discarded magazines.
But it was of no use. Ever and anon
my restless and inquisitive eyes wan
dered from the pages before me and
rested upon the man at the end of
the apartment. The large, beautiful
brown eyes were fixed upon me. Now
and again the lids dropped heavily
over them, but whenever the eyelids
were raised he surveyed me with the
same strange, mournful gaze.
Suddenly the speed of the train be-
| mo clnror 7 f,.iaI 70 raoollaof fha
next station we were to stop at. I
had an indistinct idea that we had
passed Stafford if so, the next sta
ton would be Chester. The fixed
stare of the motionless man was max
ing me thoroughly nervous there
fore, as | knew the train delayed for
few minutes at Chester, | deter
mined to call the guard and change
carriages.
We drew up at the platform, and I
hurriedly put on my hat and pulled
up the blind. But as / did so l rec
objected how crowded the other car-
riages were, and certainly had no
valid excuse for wishing to shift my
quarters. Yet it was humiliatlng to
think that l, Aspasia Bricks, honor
ary secretary to the British Spinsters'
Society for the Reformation of Man,
should thus be cowed merely by the
eye of one of those whom | had
vowed to bring into subsection.
While I deliberated I lost my op-
portunlty. The engine gasped,
snorted and groaned, and away we
were again whirled into the darkness
of the night. did not settle myself
to sleep again. felt too painfully
wide awake to do so. There / sat,
with my hands in the pocket of my
ulster, my feet on the now stone cold
foot warmer, and my eyes on the eyes
of the man in the corner, who fas-
cinated me as though he were snake
and l some helpless animal he want
ed to lure.
Should / speak to him? 1 asked
myself. So maddeningly restless
did | become that L could not sit
still. 1 stood up, let down the win
dow, and again looked out. From
having so often travelled by the same
route l knew quite well the part of
the country we had arrived at. We
were rushing through Wales, and ]
knew there was no stoppage until
the tickets were collected. | sal
down again, and another half hour
passed away in the same manner
without my having mustered up cour-
age enough to address my fellow
traveller. closed my eyes to shut
out the gaze of his, when / was
aroused by thunderous roar.
| started up. My companion was
motionless as before, although we
were careening madly through the
great tubular bridge over the Menta
Straits. My heart was beating yio