h David and frame her plans for immediate action so soon as the
curtain should fall upon this ridiculous engine play over which everybody
was wild.

And so, amid shouts and cheers, and squawking of the geese that attempted
to precede the engine like a white frightened body-guard down the track;
amid the waving of handkerchiefs, the shouts of excited little boys, and
the neighing of frightened horses, the first steam engine that ever drew a
train in New York state started upon its initial trip.

Then there came a great hush upon the spectators assembled. The wheels
were rolling, the carriages were moving, the train was actually going by
them, and what had been so long talked about was an assured fact. They
were seeing it with their own eyes, and might be witnesses of it to all
their acquaintances. It was true. They dared not speak nor breathe lest
something should happen and the great miracle should stop. They hushed
simultaneously as though at the passing of some great soul. They watched
in silence until the train went on between the meadows, grew smaller in
the distance, slipped into the shadow of the wood, flashed out into the
sunlight beyond again, and then was lost behind a hill. A low murmur
growing rapidly into a shout of cheer arose as the crowd turned and faced
one another and the fact of what they had seen.

"By gum! She kin do it!" ejaculated Squire Heath, who had watched the
melting of his skeptical opinions in speechless amazement.

The words were the first intimation the Spaffords had of the proximity of
Kate. They made David smile, but Marcia turned white with sudden fear
again. Not for nothing had she lived with her sister so many years. She
knew that cruel nature and dreaded it.

David looked at Marcia for sympathy in his smile at the old Squire, but
when he saw her face he turned frowning toward those behind him.

Kate saw her opportunity. She leaned forward with honeyed smile, and wily
as the serpent addressed her words to Marcia, loud and clear enough for
all those about them to hear.

"Oh, Mrs. Spafford! I am going to ask a great favor of you. I am sure you
will grant it when you know I have so little time. I am extremely anxious
to get a word of advice from your husband upon business matters that are
very pressing. Would you kindly change places with me during the ride
home, and give me a chance to talk with him about it? I would not ask it
but that I must leave for New York on the evening coa