Miss Mink's Soldier and Other StoriesRice, Alice Caldwell Hegan
General
Miss Mink's Soldier and Other Stories
Rice, Alice Caldwell Hegan
Fiction; Short stories
"Just five minutes; but I want to explain something to you first." He
looked through the papers in his pocket and selected one. "This is a
pass," he explained; "the governor can get them over this road. I got
there late, so I could only get one that had been made out for somebody
else and not been used. It's all right, you know; you won't have a bit
of trouble."
Miss Lucinda took the bit of paper, put on her glasses, and read, "Mrs.
Lura Doring."
"Yes," said Tom; "that's the lady it was made out for. Nine chances out
of ten they won't mention it; but if anything comes up, you just say
yes, you are Mrs. Doring, and it will be all right."
"But," protested Miss Lucinda, ready to weep, "I cannot tell a
falsehood."
"I don't think you'll have to," said Tom, somewhat impatiently; "but if
you deny it, you'll get us both into no end of a scrape. Hello! there's
the call for your train. I'll bring your bag."
In the confusion of getting settled in her section, and of expressing
her gratitude to Tom, Miss Lucinda forgot for the time the deadly
weight of guilt that rested upon her. It was not until the conductor
called for her ticket that her heart grew cold, and a look of
consternation swept over her face. It seemed to her that he eyed the
pass suspiciously and when he did not return it a terror seized her. She
knew he was coming back to ask her name, and what was her name? Mrs.
Dora Luring, or Mrs. Dura Loring, or Mrs. Lura Doring?
In despair she fled to the dressing room and stood there concealed by
the curtains. In a few moments the conductor passed, and she peeped at
his retreating figure. He stopped in the narrow passage by the window
and studied her pass, then he compared it with a telegram which he held
in his hand. Just then the porter joined him, and she flattened herself
against the wall and held her breath.
"It's the same name," she heard the conductor say in an undertone. "I'll
wire back to headquarters at the next stop."
If ever retribution followed an erring soul, it followed Miss Lucinda on
that trip. No one spoke to her, and nothing happened, but she sat in
terrified suspense, looking neither to right nor left, her heart beating
frantically at every approach, and the whirring wheels repeating the
questioning refrain, "Dora Luring? Dura Loring? Lura Doring?"
In New York, Floss met her as she stepped off the train, fairly
enveloping her in her enthusiasm.
"Here you are, you old darling! I have been having a fit a minute for
fear you wouldn't come. This is my Cousin May. She is going to stay with
us the whole week. New York is simply heavenly, Miss Lucy. We have made
four engagements already. Matinee this afternoon, a dinner
to-night--What's the matter? Did you leave anything on the train?"
"No, no," stammered Miss Lucinda, still casting furtive glances backward
at the conductor. "Was he talking to a policeman?" she asked
suspiciously.
"Who?"
"The conductor."
The girls laughed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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