She fished out her Pullman ticket and showed it to a waiting porter, who
motioned her down the train.
"The fourth car, lady," he said. "Car Number Four!"
"Car Four!" cried Bowles, setting down the suitcase with quite a
dramatic start. "Why--why, isn't this remarkable, Miss Lee? To think
that we should take the same train--on the same day--and then have the
very same car! But, don't you know, you never finished that last story
you were telling me--about the cowboy who went to the picnic--and now I
shall demand the end of it. Really, Miss Lee, I enjoyed your tales
immensely--but don't let me keep you waiting!"
He hurried on, still commenting upon the remarkable coincidence; and as
a memory of the reception came back to her and she recalled the avid way
in which this same young man had hung upon her words, a sudden doubt, a
shrewd questioning, came over the mind of Dixie Lee. Back in Arizona,
now, a man with any git-up-and-git to him might--but, pshaw, this was
not Arizona! And he was not that kind of man! No, indeed! The idea of
one of these New York Willies doing the sleuth act and tagging her to
the train!
At the same time Dixie Lee had her misgivings about this correct young
man, because she _knew_ his name was not Bowles. More than that, his
language displeased her, reminding her as it did of her long winter's
penance among the culturines. Three days more of highbrow conversation
would just about finish her off--she must be stern, very stern, if she
would avert the impending disaster! So she stabbed her neatly-trimmed
little sombrero with a hatpin and waited for Mr. Bowles.
"Lovely weather we've been having, isn't it?" he purled as he made bold
to sit down beside her.
"Yes, indeed," she answered, showing her white teeth in a simpering
smile. "Simply heavenly. Don't you know, it reminds me of those lines in
Wordsworth--you remember--I think it was in his 'Idiot Boy.' Oh, how do
they go?"
She knitted her brows and Mr. Bowles regarded her thoughtfully.
"Perhaps it was in his 'Lines Written in Early Spring,'" he suggested
guardedly.
"No," she insisted. "It was in 'The Idiot Boy'--either that or in 'Lines
Written to the Same Dog.' I forget which. Anyway, it told all about the
rain, you know, and the clouds--and all that. Don't you remember? I
thought you were full of Wordsworth."
This last, was thrown out for a bait, to get Mr. Bowles to extend
himself, but it failed of its effect. A somber smile took the place of
the expected frenzy and he muttered half to himself as he gazed out of
the window.
"What's that you say?" she questioned sharply.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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