fe sat, with a basket of pears
and some _caramels_. The bell rang, and we all hurried to our seats. I
remarked that, at the point of starting, there was an unusual stir and
noise on the platform. _Messieurs les voyageurs_ were not complete;
somebody was missing from one of the carriages. The station-master and
the guard kept up a brisk and angry conversation, which ended in an
imperious wave of the hand to the engine-driver.

The guard and the commissioner (who travels in the interest of the
general vagrant public from London to Paris, making himself generally
useful by the way) shrugged their shoulders and got to their places, and
we went forward to Creil. Here the carriages were all searched
carefully. A lady was inquiring for the gentleman. My French companions
laughed, and answered in their native light manner; and again we were
_en route_ for Paris. Past Chantilly and Enghien and St. Denis we flew,
to where the low line of the fortifications warned us to dust ourselves,
fold our newspapers, roll up our rugs, and tell one another that which
was obvious to all--that we were in the centre of civilization once
more.

It was dark; and I was hungry, and out of humour, and impatient. I had
fallen in with unsympathetic companions. That half-hour in the
waiting-room, while the porters are arranging the luggage for
examination, is trying to most tempers. I am usually free from it; but
on this occasion I had some luggage belonging to a friend to look after.
I was waiting sulkily.

Presently the guard, the travelling commissioner, and half-a-dozen more
in official costume, appeared, surrounding a lady, who was in deep
distress. Had I seen a gentleman--fair, &c., &c.? I turned and beheld
Mrs. Daker. She darted at me, and I can never forget the look which
accompanied the question--

"You were with my husband on the boat. Where is he?"

He was not among the passengers who reached Paris. We telegraphed back
to Creil, and to Amiens. No English traveller, who had missed his train,
made answer. We questioned all the passengers in the waiting-room; one
had seen the _blonde_ Englishman buying pears at Amiens; this was all we
could hear. I say "we," because Mrs.

[Illustration: EXCURSIONISTS & EMIGRANTS. _Sketches in Paris_]

Daker at once fastened upon me: she implored my advice; she narrated all
that had passed between her husband and herself while the train was
waiting at Amiens. He had begged her not to stir--kind fellow tha