e sitting in a state of
relaxation and relief in the Boston express, their troubles over for at
least several hours.

The black porter, whose heart happened not to be black and who had
children of his own, perceived the helpless ignorance that lay behind
the twins' assumption a of severe dignity, and took them in hand and
got seats for them in the parlour car. As they knew nothing about cars,
parlour or otherwise, but had merely and quite uselessly reiterated to
the booking-clerk, till their porter intervened, that they wanted
third-class tickets, they accepted these seats, thankful in the press
and noise round them to get anything so roomy and calm as these
dignified arm-chairs; and it wasn't till they had been in them some
time, their feet on green footstools, with attendants offering them
fruit and chocolates and magazines at intervals just as if they had been
in heaven, as Anna-Felicitas remarked admiringly, that counting their
money they discovered what a hole the journey had made in it. But they
were too much relieved at having accomplished so much on their own,
quite uphelped for the first time since leaving Aunt Alice, to take it
particularly to heart; and, as Anna-Felicitas said, there was still the
L200, and, as Anna-Rose said, it wasn't likely they'd go in a train
again for ages; and anyhow, as Anna-Felicitas said, whatever it had cost
they were bound to get away from being constant drains on Mr. Twist's
purse.

The train journey delighted them. To sit so comfortably and privately in
chairs that twisted round, so that if a passenger should start staring
at Anna-Felicitas one could make her turn her back altogether on him; to
have one's feet on footstools when they were the sort of feet that don't
reach the ground; to see the lovely autumn country flying past, hills
and woods and fields and gardens golden in the October sun, while the
horrible Atlantic was nowhere in sight; to pass through towns so queerly
reminiscent of English and German towns shaken up together and yet not a
bit like either; to be able to have the window wide open without
getting soot in one's eyes because one of the ministering angels--clad,
this one, appropriately to heaven, in white, though otherwise
black--pulled up the same sort of wire screen they used to have in the
windows at home to keep out the mosquitoes; to imitate about twelve,
when they grew bold because they were so hungry, the other passengers
and cause the black angel to