Political fiction; Short stories, American; United States -- Politics and government -- Fiction
Malachi Nolan sat bolt upright in his seat in the Pullman. He was
clothed in his decent black suit, and he wore his black cravat tucked
stiffly under the collar that so tightly bound his thick, red neck. On
his glossy shirt front the great diamond, four carats in weight, rose
and fell with his heavy breathing. At his feet was a new yellow valise;
beside him, wedging him tightly into his seat, was Nora’s luggage, her
new bag, the roll of steamer rugs, her little umbrella, her plaid cape,
and all the things she had got at the suggestion of friends who were
interested in her journey across the sea to Ireland. Nora, in her new
traveling gown, was prettier than Malachi had ever seen her. She sat in
the front seat of the section, leaning against the double window, her
elbow on its narrow sill, her chin meditatively in her palm. There had
been some talk between them as the heavy train pulled out of the Van
Buren Street station, and in the bustle of getting away, of arranging
her bags and her bundles, and all that, Nora had beamed with pleasure,
and a fine and happy excitement had sparkled through the long, black
lashes of her blue Irish eyes. But as the train plunged recklessly
out through the bewildering yards, she had noticed her father casting
wistful glances at this or that familiar object sweeping so swiftly and
irrevocably away. There was the Harrison Street police station which
he had visited on so many mornings to help some poor devil out of the
toils; the shops shutting down for the night, their workers trooping
homeward, dead tired after the long hours; the Twelfth Street viaduct,
marking the limits of his ward; the slips in the south branch of the
dirty Chicago River, where big schooners still lay torpid at their
winter moorings, the crossings at Sixteenth Street, then the dear old
Archey Road. A silence had fallen upon him that reacted upon her, and
she grew still, and rode on in the swaying train, gazing soberly out
upon the ragged edges of that Chicago she was leaving behind for the
first time in her life.
The black porter, in spotless white jacket, was going through the car
with his stool, pulling down the inverted globes of the lamps with his
ventilating stick and lighting the four little gas-jets; the travelers
in the car were settling themselves accustomedly for the long ride to
New York, there was even a prospect of some cheer in the dinner which
was soon to be served in the dining-car, but the alderman seemed not to
notice any of these things.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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