The young lady is there to meet her school-girl friend. The escort stands at one side with his cane in his mouth; nervously fingering in his vest pocket to see if the car fare is ready at hand. The girls grapple each other, catch-as-catch-can, fire a broadside of the opera bouffe brand of kisses, and jabber out something like this: "Oh, you sweet thing, so glad you've come--toothache?--no, no, it's a caramel--such a lovely cape, I want the pattern--dying to see you--that ring--my brother gave it to me--don't tell me a story--Charlie and Tom and Harry and Bob, and--oh, I forgot--Tom, this is Kitty--real sealskin of course--talk all night when we get home"--"Git out der way dere, gents and ladies"--a truck piled with trunks four-high goes crashing by; a policeman drags an old lady from under the wheels, and she plunges madly at the engine and is rescued by the fireman, whom she abuses as a pickpocket and an oppressor of the defenseless. A sour-looking man with a big valise comes out of the crowd and is seized upon by a red-nosed man in a silk hat. "Did you get it, old boy?" asks the man with the nose. "Get your grandmother!" growls the sour man. "That fellow Reed is the biggest liar in America. Feller from Maine got it. I'm a populist from this day on. Got the price of a toddy, Jimmy?" The engine stands and puffs sullenly. The crowd disperses gradually, stringing by twos, threes and larger through the waiting-room doors. Depot officials hustle along, pushing their way among the people. A brakeman springs from his car and runs up to a dim female figure lurking in the shadow of the depot. "How is the kid?" he asks sharply with an uneven breath. "Bad," says the woman, in a dry, low voice. "Fever a hundred and four all day. Keeps a-calling of you all the time, Jim. Got to go out again tonight?" "Orders," says Jim and then: "No, cussed if I do. The company can go to the devil. Callin' of me, is he? Come on, Liz." He takes the woman's arm and they hurry away into the darkness. A ragged man with a dreary whine to his voice fastens upon a big stranger in a long overcoat who is hurrying hotel-wards. "Have you a dime, sir, a man could get something to eat with?" The big man pauses and says kindly, "Certainly. I have more than that. I have at least a dollar for supper, and I'm going up to the Hutchins House and get it. Good night." On the other side of the depot the hack drivers are crowding to the dead line, filling the air with cries. A pompous man, who never allows himself to be imposed upon when traveling, steps up to a carriage and slings his valise inside. "Drive me to the Lawlor Hotel," he says, commandingly. "But, sir," says the driver. "The Lawlor is--" "I don't want any comments," says the pompous man. "If you don't want the job, say so." "I was just going to say that--" "I know where I want to go, and if you think you know any better--" "Jump in," says the driver. "I'll take you."