perceptibly. "It does seem as if a baby
knew a woman's touch," he said, with such a sigh of relief.

"They know when their clothes are comfortable and their hands warm."

"His mother always attended to him. He and I were only playfellows."

"Where is his mother now?" I asked, no longer able to restrain my
curiosity.

"In the freight room." His eyes filled with tears.

"Was it her coffin I saw in the hearse awhile ago?"

"Yes."

"Oh I am so sorry;" and I too burst into tears. He busied himself getting
a spirit lamp lighted, and soon the baby's milk was simmering, and almost
before good humor had been restored throughout the car the baby had
comfortably dined, and gone off into a refreshing slumber. I made him a
snug little bed out of rugs and shawls, and laid him down in blissful
unconsciousness of the cold, still form, even more unconscious than he,
in the adjoining freight room.

The passengers as well as Mr. Winthrop had been watching me curiously,
and my sudden burst of tears had mystified them.

Once the baby was nicely settled to its nap I returned to my seat. Mrs.
Flaxman eagerly asked why there was no woman to look after the baby.
I saw Mr. Winthrop listening, as if interested also in the strange
phenomenon of a man in attendance alone on an infant.

"The mother is in the freight room."

"What?" Mrs. Flaxman asked, looking a trifle alarmed.

"She is in her coffin." My lip trembled, and with difficulty I restrained
my tears once more.

"How dreadful!" she murmured, and presently I saw her wiping away her own
tears.

"And you were the only one brave enough to go to him in his trouble.
Medoline, I am proud of you, but ashamed of myself."

"I couldn't help going; he looked so distressed, and I could see he
wasn't fit to look after the baby. Men are so useless about such things,"
I said, giving Mr. Winthrop a humorous glance.

"Another case of widowers," Mr. Winthrop whispered, as he bent his head
near to mine; but I saw that he too was not unmoved, and the look he
bestowed upon me was equal to a caress.

"I am going to speak to that poor man myself." Mrs. Flaxman said very
energetically, after she had got her eyes dried.

She went, but very soon I saw her handkerchief in active service again.
They sat chatting a long time, while all the passengers seemed to have a
growing interest in their fellow traveller and his little charge. The
latter wakened while Mrs. Flaxman was still lingering beside t