New England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Villages -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
Number 47 was an express train, the pride of the Road; it was making its
usual speed, and confidently expected to arrive "on the dot" at Cyrus
and every other station on the line; nevertheless, to one passenger on
board, Number 47 seemed the very limit of slowness. The tall
broad-shouldered young man who sat in the furthest seat forward, elbows
on knees, chin in hands, was deep in thought through most of the
journey, but as eight o'clock drew near he waxed impatient. Call this an
express train? If he ever let an accommodation--or a freight for that
matter--crawl at this rate over any road _he_ had anything to do
with--good-night! Stopping at every back yard! to pick up the milk cans,
he supposed! He fumed, looked at his watch (front and back: the latter
seemed to interest him most, though the bright face that smiled at him
from a kodak print had little to say about time), then plunged in
thought again. Did she look like that now? he wondered. Had she changed
much in these three years? Three years! it was a breath--it was an
eternity!
"_My soul! What if she--what if somebody else_----"
He sprang up as if something had stung him; recollected himself, with a
startled glance around him; met the interested gaze of a Vassar freshman
across the aisle; sat down and with a shrug of his broad shoulders
settled into his reverie again. Nonsense! that kind of girl--there was
only one of the kind--wouldn't forget in three years, nor in thirteen.
That last look she gave him, standing at the gate--he paused, letting
the thought of it curl warm about his heart, sent the blood pulsing up
into his ears. Beautiful ears, the Vassar freshman thought; they were
all she could see now over his coat collar, except the thick crop of
hay-colored hair. Kitty used to say that when the Cyrus hay-crop failed
they could fall back on Tom's hair, and then she would quote with her
own delicious twinkle, "Good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow!"
If she had changed, Tom told himself severely, it could only be for the
better. She was a woman now, his little girl: his little dancing
gentlewoman of high quality. He hummed a tune between his teeth;
whistled it; hummed it again. A quaint tune, with no special beginning
or ending. A gentleman in the seat behind him became restive, shot
irritated glances in his direction; was on the point of remonstrating
when the tune ceased. The young man, glancing up, had caught a glimpse
of himself in a wall mirror. Talk about change! what would Kitty say to
him?
He stared straight into the wide-apart gray-blue eyes with their thick
short lashes like a black fringe; noted the three deep lines ruled
straight across the broad forehead; scrutinized the curious scar on the
left cheek. "Well, you _are_ a show!" muttered Tom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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