"Oh, that's too bad!" the conductor groaned. "What did he look like?"
"He had a pink ribbon round his neck."
"A pink ribbon--oh, the poor little fellow! the poor little fellow!"
"And a long curly tail."
The conductor swung round with a yell: "A curly tail!--your son?"
"My dog!" Marjorie roared back at him.
The conductor's voice cracked weakly as he shrieked: "Your dog! You
stopped this train for a fool dog?"
"He wasn't a fool dog," Marjorie retorted, facing him down, "he knows
more than you do."
The conductor threw up his hands: "Well, don't you women beat----" He
studied Marjorie as if she were some curious freak of nature. Suddenly
an idea struck into his daze: "Say, what kind of a dog was it?--a
measly little cheese-hound?"
"He was a noble, beautiful soul with wonderful eyes and adorable
ears."
The conductor was growing weaker and weaker: "Well, don't worry. I got
him. He's in the baggage car."
Marjorie stared at him unbelievingly. The news seemed too gloriously
beautiful to be true. "He isn't dead--Snoozleums is not dead!" she
cried, "he lives! He lives! You have saved him." And once more she
flung herself upon the conductor. He tried to bat her off like a gnat,
and Mallory came to his rescue by dragging her away and shoving her
into a chair. But she saw only the noble conductor: "Oh, you dear,
good, kind angel. Get him at once."
"He stays in the baggage car," the conductor answered, firmly and as
he supposed, finally.
"But Snoozleums doesn't like baggage cars," Marjorie smiled. "He won't
ride in one."
"He'll ride in this one or I'll wring his neck."
"You fiend in human flesh!" Marjorie shrank away from him in horror,
and he found courage to seize the bell rope and yank it viciously with
a sardonic: "Please, may I start this train?"
The whistle tooted faintly. The bell began to hammer, the train to
creak and writhe and click. The conductor pulled his cap down hard and
started forward. Marjorie seized his sleeve: "Oh, I implore you, don't
consign that poor sweet child to the horrid baggage car. If you have a
human heart in your breast, hear my prayer."
The conductor surrendered unconditionally: "Oh, Lord, all right, all
right. I'll lose my job, but if you'll keep quiet, I'll bring him to
you." And he slunk out meekly, followed by the passengers, who were
shaking their heads in wonderment at this most amazing feat of this
most amazing bride.
When they were alone once more, Marjorie as radiant as April after a
storm, turned her sunshiny smile on Mallory:
"Isn't it glorious to have our little Snoozleums alive and well?"
But Mallory was feeling like a March day. He answered with a sleety
chill: "You care more for the dog than you do for me."
"Why shouldn't I?" Marjorie answered with wide eyes, "Snoozleums never
would have brought me on a wild goose elopement like this. Heaven
knows he didn't want to come."
Mallory repeated the indictment: "You love a dog better than you love
your husband."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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