n's waiting room, and it was empty save for one
man; his back was turned to her, but she recognized Lige Bemis. A
tremble of guilt racked and weakened her. And with a thrill as of pain
she heard the faint whistle of a train far up the valley. The man
moved about the room inside. Apparently he also heard the far-off
whistle. She shrank around the corner of the depot. But he caught
sight of her dress, and slowly sauntered up and down the platform
until he passed near enough to her to identify her in the faint
flicker of the gas. He spoke, and she returned his greeting. The train
whistled again--much nearer it seemed to her, but still far away, and
her soul and the "no" were grappling in a final contest. Suddenly it
came over her that she had not bought her ticket. Again the train
whistled, and far up the tracks she could see a speck of light. She
hurried into the waiting room to buy the ticket. The noise of the
train was beginning to sound in her ears, She was frightened and
nervous, and she fumbled with her purse and valise. Nearer and nearer
came the train, and the "no" fairly screamed in her ears, and her face
was pallid, with the black wrinkles standing out upon it in the
gaslight. The train was in the railroad yards, and the glare of the
headlight was in the waiting room. Bemis came in and saw her fumbling
with her ticket, her pocket book, and her valise.

"You'll have to hurry, Mrs. Brownwell, this is the limited--it only
stops a minute. Let me help you."

He picked up the valise and followed her from the room. The rush of
the incoming train shattered her nerves. They pulsed in fear of some
dreadful thing, and in that moment she wondered whether or not she
would ever see it all again--the depot, the familiar street, the
great mill looming across the river, and the Barclay home half a mile
above them. In a second she realized all that her going meant, and the
"no" screamed at her, and the "why not" answered feebly. But she had
gone too far, she said to herself. The engine was passing her, and
Bemis was behind her with the heavy valise. She wondered what he would
say when Bob met her at the train in the city. All this flashed across
her mind in a second, and then she became conscious that the rumbling
thing in front of her was not the limited but a cattle train, and the
sickening odour from it made her faint. In the minute while it was
rushing by at full speed she became rigid, and then, taking her valise
from the m