She was trying to look earnest and thoughtful and heartbroken, but the result was hardly plausible, for Mrs. Sammy Whitcomb could not possibly have been really earnest or really thoughtful; and her heart was quite too elastic to break. She proved it instantly, for when she heard behind her the voice of a young man asking her to let him pass, she turned to protest, but seeing that he was a handsome young man, her starch was instantly changed to sugar. And she rewarded his good looks with a smile, as he rewarded hers with another. Then Ashton intervened like a dog in the manger and dragged her off to her seat, leaving the young man to exclaim: "Some tamarind, that!" Another young man behind him growled: "Cut out the tamarinds and get to business. Mallory will be here any minute." "I hate to think what he'll do to us when he sees what we've done to him." "Oh, he won't dare to fight in the presence of his little bridey-widey. Do you see the porter in there?" "Yes, suppose he objects." "Well, we have the tickets. We'll claim it's our section till Mallory and Mrs. Mallory come." They moved on into the car, where the porter confronted them. When he saw that they were loaded with bundles of all shapes and sizes, he waved them away with scorn: "The emigrant sleepa runs only Toosdays and Thuzzdays." From behind the first mass of packages came a brisk military answer: "You black hound! About face--forward march! Section number one." The porter retreated down the aisle, apologizing glibly. "'Scuse me for questionin' you, but you-all's baggage looked kind o' eccentric at first." The two young men dumped their parcels on the seats and began to unwrap them hastily. "If Mallory catches us, he'll kill us," said Lieutenant Shaw. Lieutenant Hudson only laughed and drew out a long streamer of white satin ribbon. Its glimmer, and the glimmering eyes of the young man excited Mrs. Whitcomb so much that after a little hesitance she moved forward, followed by the jealous Ashton. "Oh, what's up?" she ventured. "It looks like something bridal." "Talk about womanly intuition!" said Lieutenant Hudson, with an ingratiating salaam. And then they explained to her that their classmate at West Point, being ordered suddenly to the Philippines, had arranged to elope with his beloved Marjorie Newton; had asked them to get the tickets and check the baggage while he stopped at a minister's to "get spliced and hike for Manila by this train." Having recounted this plan in the full belief that it was even at that moment being carried out successfully, Lieutenant Hudson, with a ghoulish smile, explained: "Being old friends of the bride and groom, we want to fix their section up in style and make them truly comfortable." "Delicious!" gushed Mrs. Whitcomb. "But you ought to have some rice and old shoes." "Here's the rice," said Hudson. "Here's the old shoes," said Shaw.