Edith and John: A Story of PittsburghFarquhar, Franklin Smith
General
Edith and John: A Story of Pittsburgh
Farquhar, Franklin Smith
Pittsburgh (Pa.) -- Fiction
Finally, the trail and the quarry ended at the entrance of the Frick
building. Here Mike took up his post, after Mr. Jarney and Miss Barton
had gone within. There he stood buried deeply in his collar, still
smoking the delectable cigarette (to him), with as much energy and
enjoyment as when he started out on his perambulatory quest for fresh
air. The air being chilly, Mike crouched in a corner beneath the big
arch of the doors to keep the chills from going up and down and through
and through his snakish frame.
An enclosed auto, complete in all its appointments, stood closely
hugging the curbstone, the chauffeur having taken refuge from the
rawness in a nearby lounging place, where a little warmth was obtainable
while he waited for his charges to be taken homeward.
Shortly, after Mike had taken up his position as a sentry might on more
important and graver business, the great doors by him suddenly bursted
open, and the two young ladies hurried out. They approached the auto
together. Edith opened the door of the cab, and let Star within, she
following. After being seated, they leaned back on the soft cushions of
the enclosed conveyance to wait the coming of the chauffeur to take them
at a giddy speed to the mansion on the hill.
Mike, from his sentry corner, watched their every movement. Twice, or
thrice, he was tempted to approach them, and make himself known; but he
was restrained by an inward impulse that told him, even in his vapid
sense of reasoning, that he would be committing an egregious mistake,
should he do so at that time and place.
The chauffeur did not come. The ladies sat quietly, happy, oblivious of
their surroundings, quietly talking; with now and then a little laugh
from each other as a climax to their joyous spirits. Still the chauffeur
did not return; and still the ladies sat on, paying no heed as to
whether the chauffeur was at his post, or off somewhere in China.
Suddenly the machine puffed, snorted, and sent up a fog of acrid fumes.
Then a lever clicked over a rachet, then another; and the auto began
puffing regularly, and moved slowly out into the street. It creeped and
crawled among the wagons and carts and horses to Smithfield street. Up
that crowded thoroughfare it went, weaving its way certainly,
cautiously, deliberately, determinedly, till it was out of the congested
district; and out where the streets were freer from the impedimenta of
human contrivances. As the distance increased, the speed of the machine
increased, accordingly; and they were directly whizzing onward at a
lively whirring, gathering speed continually as the course lengthened
into the thinly traversed streets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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