The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1914-05-14
CHAPTER |.
arch Comes in Like the Lion.

March Comes in Like the Lion.
The train. which had roared through
a whitening gale of sleet all the way
IN from New York. came to stand
still. with many an ear-splitting sigh,
alongside the little station, and re-
,uctant porter opened his vestibule
doo~ to descend to the snow-swept plat
form: a solitary passenger had
reached the journeys end. The swirl
NJ snow and sleet screaming out of the
blackness at the end of the station
building enveloped the porter in an
instant, and cut his ears and neck with
singing force as he turned his back
against the gale. A pair of lonely,
half-9bscured platform lights cleaned
fatuously at the top of their icy posts
ct each end Of the station; two or
three frostincrusted windows glowed
duly in the side Of the building, while
one shone brightly where the operator
sst waiting for the passing of No. SO.
An order had been issued for the
stopping of the fast express at b,
a noteworthy concession in these days
Of Dremeditated haste. Not in the pre-
ysous career of flying 33 had it even so
mach as slowed down for the ineig-
aifcant little station, through which
II swooped at midnight the whole year
round. Just before pulling out of New
York on this eventful night the con-
ductor received a command to stop
So at B and let down single pas
senger. circumstance which meant
trouble for every dispatcher along the
line
The woman who got down at B
In the wake of the shivering but defer
entail porter, and who passed by the
conductors without lifting her face,
was without hand luggage of any de-
scription. She was heavily yelled, and
warmly clad in furs. At eleven O'Clock
that night she had entered the COM
partment In New York. Throughout
the thirty miles or more she had sat
alone and inert beside the snow
clogged window, peertEg through veil
and frost into the night that whizzed
past the pane, seeing nothing yet ap-
parently intent on all that stretched
beyond AS still, as immobile as
death Itself she had held herself from
the moment of departure to the instant
that brought the porter with the word
that they were whistling for B.
Without a word she arose and fol-
lowed him to the vestibule, where she
watched him as he unfastened the
outer door and lifted the trap. A
single word escaped her lips and he
held out his hand to receive the crum-
pied bill she clutched in her gloved
Z j.
knew that 1t would amply reward him
for the brief exposure he endured on
the lonely, wind-swept platform of a
station, the name of which he did not
know.
She took several uncertain steps in
the direction Of the station windows
and stopped. as II bewildered. Already
the engine was pounding the air with
quick, vicious snorts in the effort to
get under way; the vestibule trap and
door closed with a bang; the wheels
were creaking. A bitter wind smote
her in the face; the wet. hurting sleet
crashed against the thin veil, binding
her
The door OF the waiting room across
the platform opened and a man rushed
toward her
Mrs. Wrandall?" he called above
the roar OF the wind.
She advanced quickly.
Yes"
What night" he said, as much t.
himself as to her. I'm CORY 20,
would Insist on coming tonight To
morrow morning would have satisfle.
the"
Is this Mr. Drake?"
They were being blown through tia
doos Into the waiting room as she pu
the question Her voice was muff1ed
Inc NAV In the great fur coat put hi
weight against the door to close it,
Yes, Ms. WrandaU | have don
all that could be done under the Gil
ohmstances. ! am sorry to tell yo