The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1910-08-04


quiet again. Every nerve was tense.
Time passed, perhaps ten minutes,
possibly half an hour. Then, without
the slightest warning, as the train
rounded a curve, a heavy body was
thrown into my berth. The incident,
trivial as 1t seemed, was startling in
its suddenness, for although my ears
were painfully strained and awake,
had heard no step outside. The next
instant the curtain hung limp again;
still without a sound, my disturber
had slipped away into the gloom and
darkness. In a frenzy of wakefulness,
sat up, drew on a pair of slippers and
fumbled for my bath robe.
From a berth across, probably lower
ten, came that particularly aggravat-
ing snore which begins lightly, deli
cately, family soprano, goes down the
scale a note with every breath, and,
after keeping the listener tense with
expectation, ends with an explosion
that tears the very air. | was more
and more irritable: l sat on the edge
of the berth and hoped the snorer
would choke to death.
He had considerable vitality. how
ever; he withstOOd one shock after
another and survived to start again
with new vigor. In desperation |
found some cigarettes and one match,
piled my blankets over my grip, and
drawing the curtains together as
though the berth were still occupied, |
made my way to the vestibule Of the
car.
| vas not clad for dress parade. Is
it because the male is so restricted to
gloom in his everyday attire that he
blossoms into gaudy colors in his pa
jamas and dressing gowns? 1t would
take a Turk to feel at home before an
audience In my red and yellow bath
robe, a Christmas remembrance from
Mrs. Klopton, with slippers to match.
So, naturally, when | saw a femi-
nine figure on the platform, my first
instinct was to dodge. The woman,
however, was quicker than l; she gave
me a startled glance, wheeled and dis
appeared, with a flash of two bronze.
cOiOred braids, into the next car.
Cigarette box in one hand, match
f. the other, | leaned against the un-
certain frame of the door and gazed
after her vanished figure. The noun,
tain air tapped my bath robe around
my bare ankles, my one match burned
to the end and went out, and still
stared. For | had seen on her express
sive face a haunting look that was
horror, nothing less. Heaven knows
| am not psychological. Emotions
have to be written large before | can
read them. But a woman in trouble
always appeals to me, and this woman
was more than that. She was in dead
~ fear.
If / had lot been afraid of being
ridiculous, | would have followed her
But I fancied hat the apparition of &
mar in a red and yellow bath robe
with an unkempt thatch of hair, walk
ing up to her and assuring her thai
he would protect her would probably
put her into Mysteries. | had done
that once before, when burglars haC
tried to break into the house, and haC
startled the parlor maid into bed foI
a week. So / tried to assure mysel
that I had imagined the lady's distress.
or caused it, perhaps-and to dis
miss her from my mind. Perhaps sh,
was merely anxious about the un
pleasant gentleman of the restaurant
| I thn,,nht cyn,tuIu hot 7 could hnu.
told her all about him: That he wa!
sleeping the sleep of the just and tn,
intoxicated in a berth that ought, b,
all that was fair and right, to have
been mine, and that if | we're tied t.
a man who snored like that | shoult
have him anaesthetized and soft pal
ate put where it would never agaiI
flap like a loose sail in the wind.
We passed Harrisburg, as | stoot
there. 1t was starlight, and the grea
J crests of the Alleghanies had giver
way to low hills. At intervals W.
passed smudges of gray white, n,
doubt in daytime comfortable farms
I which Mcknight says is a god wa,
: of putting it, the farms being a 10
: more comfortable than the peeple OF
, them.
| vas growing drowsy; the vomar
, with the bronze hair and the Mortified
face was fading in retrospect. I, wa!
|, colder, too, and | turned with a silver
: to go in.
AS | did so. a bit of paper ~fluttereC
l into the air and settled on my sleeve
r like a butterfly on a gorgeous red ant
yellow blossom. l picked it up curl
ously and glanced at it. 1t was par
1 of a telegram that had been torn int
I bits.
I There were only parts of four word
on the scrap. but it left me puzzle,
and thoughtful. 1t read: lover ter
e car evs~' Lower ten, car seven.
was my berth-the one | had bough
l and found pre-empted.
s crO BE CoNTINUED.l