idea of mine will revolutionize railroad travel in this
country--do you know that? It will bring Chicago far nearer New York
than it is now. How? By cutting down the running time of the fastest
trains. When the railroad men hear of it--and see how simple it
is--they'll hail me as a public benefactor--"

"But what is it?" interrupted Fanny eagerly. "You haven't told us what
it is."

Beaming with self-importance, he tilted forward on his chair. Fanny,
tense with the excitement of suspense, strained her ears. Even
Virginia deigned to stop reading and pay attention. Clearing his
throat he began:

"You must first understand that the chief difficulty railroads meet
with in maintaining a fast schedule is the vexatious delays caused by
stops at way-stations. My idea does away with all stops. I eliminate
them entirely, and yet I pick up all the passengers who wish to travel
by that particular train--"

He stopped and looked at them as if he expected exclamations of wonder
and demands for further explanation. Virginia looked puzzled. Fanny,
quite excited, beamed with enthusiasm.

"How do you do it?" exclaimed the elder sister admiringly. Assuredly
she had made no mistake when she had selected so gifted a life
partner.

"Yes," demanded Virginia. "How do you pick them up?"

The young man laughed outright. Confidently he went on:

"Pick 'em up? It's so easy that I can't understand why no one ever
thought of it before. Did you ever see the way the fast expresses pick
up mail bags? Near the track there is an upright post, from which
extends an arm. On this arm is suspended the mail bag. The onrushing
train, which is travelling perhaps at a speed of a mile a minute, is
fitted on the outside with a sort of hook which catches the mail bag
and jerks it into the car. Well, that same idea can just as well be
applied to waiting passengers as to waiting mail bags. The passengers
would all be gathered together in a car which would wait on a siding
for the arrival of the express. By some mechanical
contrivance--exactly what it would be I haven't yet figured out--this
waiting car would be instantly switched on to the rapidly-moving
express--would become, so to speak, the rear car. The passengers would
go forward through the vestibule to take their seats in the train
proper and the emptied waiting car would then be unswitched and go
back to the station to begin the performance all over again--all this
while the train was going at top s