But he had now let the New England Central train leave without him, and
it only remained for him to push on to Wellwater, where he hoped to
connect with the Boston train for Montreal, on the Union and Dominion
road. He remembered that this train divided at Wellwater, and certain
cars ran direct to Quebec, up through Sherbrooke and Lennoxville. He
meant to go from Montreal to Quebec, but now he questioned whether he
had better not go straight on from Wellwater; when he recalled the long,
all-night ride without a sleeper, which he had once made on that route
many summers before, he said to himself that in his shaken condition, he
must not run the risk of such a hardship. If he were to get sick from
it, or die, it would be as bad as a railroad accident. The word now made
him think of what Hilary had said; Hilary who had called him a thief. He
would show Hilary whether he was a thief or not, give him time; he would
make him eat his words, and he figured Hilary retracting and apologizing
in the presence of the whole Board; Hilary apologized handsomely, and
Northwick forgave him, while it was also passing through his mind that
he must reduce the risks of railroad accident to a minimum, by
shortening the time. They reduced the risk of ocean travel in that way,
by reducing the time, and logically the fastest ship was the safest. If
he could get to Montreal from Wellwater in four or five hours, when it
would take him twelve hours to get to Quebec, it was certainly his duty
to go to Montreal. First of all, he must put himself out of danger of
every kind. He must not even fatigue himself too much; and he decided to
telegraph on to Wellwater, and secure a seat in the Pullman car to
Montreal. He had been travelling all day in the ordinary car, and he had
found it very rough.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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