LITERATURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 782, 28 March 1905, Page 4

LITERATURE.

is IS THE GENERAL MANAGER'S f - ■ "--CAR. - : $ f Contiowd./. £> She Bed, in tumultuous hope, to t the corner drug store, awl thence J telephoned West 269. Mr Maxwa £"*" was not in. She returned, after an li eternity of twenty minutes, and tcleS. phoned again, and still he was not |r in. At naif-past three she calied a £s third time, and then she reached ft him. Ail that she lcawiod, however L- was that he had a somewhat uncerW±\ lain order for a woman stcnograph*kf~\cr to serve General Manager Mcrasf-- - dith, of the Dec Line, at Omaha, for Kt» three weeks; that it might be coun- £:' termtmckd, but that, it' she wished) if, *o undertake it, he would call at W 4.43, cither to take her and her * luggage to the train, or tell her no. f" Rather a sandy foundation to build. l£ . castles on but nevertheless there, l£ v arose in her mind such a towering £"-" fabric of hopeful visions as would &- bate appalled Maxson if he had p" known. |'j Promptly on time his smart car*K gage stopped at her dingy door. £■ When he met her, in the weary-look- &£■ ing reception room her anxious face |* • seemed to match its tarnished sctfl tings in its show of wear and worbut he told her that he had fe£ ; come to get her, not to disappoint |f: ,r her, and her countenance was S-"* straighway transfigured. 65 ' When she had come to' him with |L her note of introduction, a month <P- - *efore, ho had seen that she was a JT. sweet, Vetty girl; out of the mode, fc~- yet becomingly dressed; a product fx\ of the country, but one too tine tc 's\ be reared in the clash and crush o l&v/ the city. Her face had the delicat beauty of a frail blossom, and hei W:' inanncr was that of a lady of re jg ' frooment, though sadly unsophistiji - catedV A!l her sweetness would havt fr" been wasted on Maxson as it was Sf on the deseit air if it had not been for .that obvious unsophistication LX She was plainly as unfitted for the C ' eity grind as a pansy for the midEg> die of State-street. Her innocence £''< stirred him to pity, and ho really ||-? did try to find work for her. Oj course, he had thought of her at f". 1 oree when Meradith's message came, *■'* and now, as he saw her face, gloritied by new-risen hope, the *rembk ik*'- Kf her hand, and the two or three &V. tain of joyous reliot from the strait y , she had undergone, he dealt verj g gently wHh her, and talked to hci |L. -while tliey drove. A porter carried p". his smart suit-cases and her frayct j£ • sachet and forlorn little teletype |f for troth of which she blushed, a: K. r Maxson piloted ber through the bij Ev* entrance, passing the keeper of tht fh -awesome iron gate with a familial g?-~ word, and; on to the •forward end fflj- of the last - car al a spic-*nd-spai jfi';: train in the murk of the great shed, g-' In all her life she had never rid§j£ den in the last car on such a train P porter had made great haste to place jft for her a carpeted stool wherewith k; to shorten her steps to such a grand jv- gjlt-raifed platform. She had never S ■ entered any such car through. a 11. * door, of flawless clear "' down to her feet!,—as rthat by which X she hesitantly stepped, after Maxi son, into a vertiablc room. And 1* such a room ! Opulence, magnift f"< cence, luxury, all about ber, under , foot and overhead. Sho knew Max- ,' ooa was making a mistake.. This \ was no passenger car ; it ihad tables X' * <.and chairs and deeply-cushioned f"[> -.' tounges. Tho carpets gave under hei I feet so softly that she might have p"-v- slept on them; the woodwork was fc of impossible beaut}', with perfect \. mirrors framed in its rich panels; * the windows were vast spaces oj »~ r crystal glass, as large as threw win< !"/ ' dows in the cars she had known i s ' all the metal-work was of silver 01 \ r delicate bronze; a great potted fern ~.'.- waved its graceful fronds from a ,-"'■ tiny alcove, and 1 beautiful <kn&, ,", polished lika a piano, stood with'its V back against the rear walL 'v In her wonder she did not notice where Maxson went, or even that ? « he had gone, until she discovered he V .was not there. She stared at the >' Biim'< little door that led back into the car at the corner. How strange! -■ She -had thought that all car doors : wcro in the exact centre. Then she \ looked at the door by which she i: - n, wWch Maxson had placed 'V" *TUI *t JS .and looked out i fato the arc-lishtci gloom, sljU tap- " X« the glass with her »««*,*• Susfv hetaalf that there wad real y : When she turned again '- -.[ftookSoi.t ber Muxson was once more at her slue. , .'.; *Come, non," be »«*.„' * nA X '-. will show you your place. - TOs was the end of the beauUiul •' dream, then: the awakening. m* * place might be for him; it could .' not be for her. But Her. understand ' ing gave pU.cc to deeper bcwilder--5 ment when, instead of leading the C was forward, where now she know * she belonged. Maxson faced to the rear of the train, pushing open t™; " - HtUe glass door, and walking ahead ot her down the narrow passage atj nhich she had so looked ami wondered. She felt a gentle tremor c* the floor, and saw the iron fence and the crowds back of it, and tho nearer people on the station plat-fornt-sjonfly griding past. They had - started—whither ? Surely this leading of Maxson's was all wrong, but F* be was a dozen feet ahead of her, and whether she followed his lead or - carted him to a holt she must still .. follow mm till she could catch up. '* This is your stateroom," said' ' Jfaxion.. She gazed at him in total incomv > prehension, but she entered the door, .tor she seemed unable to resist', or even asE a question. He leaned in:sidc the door after her, hut did not set a foot inside the room. " You will find water and towels, " and everything comfortable. 1 think. If you wunt anything," he said, "just push this button here,, and the porter will answer." ;■' force a few plain words into hei ser- £ yice; ''l did; not mew to take a p.-sleeper you know."- lier efes were large with wonder and concern. "Oh f.\. know," said Maxson kindly, but Sf- not in the h-ast |,\ hvr luck f' ot undei-»)tnnr.ling ; •■ |,ut this is all ¥- riffht Vm, p„i,i,i..'i .1. ~1 -

f~ Eigai. ion. couliln'l <lo much wotvc! R'to-nioro-on if you fought with one of R* Ifcose chair-car feats all night, ami ■£■¥** M «««»ith niriy have quite ' nn |^ r amount of work for you. Sow take i-?£*J r U T' We " " ol l'"ve supper for an hou«/'. i HitILSL/ J-" 00 "'"- eves KsLS*r"' y that *• a 1,,,0s t Ml n* wc d:d," said Maxsort with. WB**rzs? "n IJut,vcarc « BSfSL* *■ X W,U tvll the con-

you off." Sho stared at him frankly as a child stares at that .which it does not understand. " Hut say that she should not want any, supper as she had brought lunch with her. It was packed in that shamefared little telescope. But sh'o did not say it for fear of some terrible gaucrierie, ami while she looked and hesitated he went on toi tell her how he had felt Tor a month, that he ought to treat her to a dinner, or something, on his mutual friend's account, and that he rbou'M be charmed to have her company table that evening. " Where— do we eat on the train ? " she asked. " Yes, on the train, in about half an hour. 1 will wait for you in the room ahead." And with a smiling bow he was gone. At just about this instant Mr Parkins cantered through the iron gate, and out upon the station a sheet of paper,in his grasp, and/ gazed after them, a block away, and fast gathering speed onthe open line through the yards'. He looked a few moments, then quietly went' back, folding up the message and placing it in his pocket. Her stateroom ? She had heard of stateroom ears as some remote grandeur reserved for great men. The splendours of this room and the unnerving reflection that there might be a bankrupting charge for all thin at the end of the journey completely overcame her. And still, as she looked about her, at the wide brass bed, the marble stand and its glittering fixtures', the clustered lights, the curtains, the velvet, the fine finish, the sensuous coziness of it all, she felt somehow strangely delighted. All 'this, and perhaps more, was hers —for the night at least. Somehow dominion had been given unto her, and all things had been put under her feet. She could hear the wheels j dully rumbling there, and the vibra- ; tion and swing of the car gave, her a great uplift she could not describe.; She loved travel, and she had had so little of it. She would enjoy this, at any rate, while it lasted. She laid off hat and cloak and her gloves, as Maxson had bidden. She experimented with the silver faucets till the water gushed forth, and then foathed her feverish forehead and face 0 She waa careful to use but the mere e nd of one of the towels that peeped % —deftly folded—from the high lattice a'rack, for economics had been directJly in.her line her whole life and they t kad become a constitutional habit. a,l They were to cat on the train ! a Then should she wear her hat, or ■ 1 should she not? She had seen the ..'diners pass through her little town, J and she now remembered that at the .tables there were women with hats J and women without.. She decided she I would be surer if she wore one. She carefully brushed and picked every t possible scrap of fluff and lint from her garments, and made every possir ble adjustmeiift. Then, when she shy'l ly appeared beside the chair la which J. Dunlow Maxson was lounging, in B the forward room, her face warm j? with the soft tint of excitement, her 1 manner expectant, yet hesitant, her " eyes shining, that blase man felt his heart almost leap 'within him. " He had never seen a fairer picture, / and ho was on his feet in an instant. '" "I am afraid you arc tired waitB ing for me," she began, smiling and -"(halting, and not Knowing what to *" say. * " Oh, not'al all ! Not at all i "he *■ exclaimed profusely. He pushed a 8 button on the- wall, ami a bell rang somowhere behind them. " I hadn't h a thing to do but wait your pleash. ure," he said, looCing kindly at hei a as she looked almost pleadingly at is,, him. ■••'■ I>id you find everything all :i right ? " He asked the question as ,0 though he meant to kill somebody if 3 anything liad been wrong. t, " Oh, my, yes ! " she exclaimed in •r an awestruck voice. "It was all so 8- beautiful ! " i- " Sit down here," he gently com re manded, pushing a wide, dark rattan i S 'chair toward he»\ and drawing his in I own up to face, '•' Will wi.l liavi a ,"dinner in a few minutes." ,e| " I didn't know," she said almost i_ tearful, "You didn't say where we ,„ were to eat. and I—anyway, I wore v my hat," h;c felt that *he was apw pealing to him for guidance and proZ tection. rfftf*. " That was right," he said round- •' ly. " Or, if you wish, you can lay £ it off at dinner. Just as you perfer. I oil are supposed to be at home." *| *ilored man appeared at the nai--1 o\p door. y " Dinner is served," he announced, :r | nd Maxson rose and said, "Come. rd .This way," and led in the dim narpassage again. c 'l (To be continued.) ig „ 16 Stern's Turkish Bath in Lestei T street,, New York, was on Januarj ™ 29 the scene of a terrible tragedy f It seems that two young Itussian , Jews, named Pasternack and Roos went into the bath early in th< n morning and entered the steam root , where they were left without at * tendance. An hour later, ono of-th "■ employees entered, and found hot ™ youths dead on the floor. Theii ' r bruised faces and torn fingers lol> * o¥ a desperate struggle for life. It i: £ supposed that the young men, hav tt ing some organic weakness, soon be! c " gan to suffer from the effects of th ~ steam. The gas became extinguished ° t and the room was then so darl r that the victims failed to find th< Y 1 door. In a frenzy caused hy th< 18 tortures of the scalding vapor the> ® must have dug their fingers into th< <* walls and dashed their heads against !r the sides and the floor. The poliei r e arrested the proprietors of the baths l! < and five attendants. ■* Mrs Tom Thumb is still alive, at ■ the age of sixty-five. She appears * daily in tho Midget Theatre at Con- *■ ey Island, New York. She is a member of the Actors' Church Alliance * and of the Woman's Aid Society, n The famous wedding of Tom Thumb * was celebrated Church, New [ . York.in 1864. .s _ __________^