In the Midst of Alarms

In the Midst of Alarms

The Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Midst of Alarms, by Robert
Barr Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check
the copyright laws for your country before downloading or
redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: In the Midst of Alarms
Author: Robert Barr
Release Date: November, 2005 [EBook #9263] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 16,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE
MIDST OF ALARMS ***

Produced by Lee Dawei, William A. Pifer-Foote, and the PG Online
Distributed Proofreaders.

IN THE MIDST OF ALARMS
by
ROBERT BARR
1894

TO E.B.

CHAPTER I.
In the marble-floored vestibule of the Metropolitan Grand Hotel in
Buffalo, Professor Stillson Renmark stood and looked about him with
the anxious manner of a person unused to The gaudy splendor of the
modern American house of entertainment. The professor had Paused
halfway between the door and the marble counter, because he began to
fear that he Had arrived at an inopportune time, that something unusual
was going on. The hurry and Bustle bewildered him.
An omnibus, partly filled with passengers, was standing at the door, its
steps backed Over the curbstone, and beside it was a broad, flat van, on
which stalwart porters were heaving great square, iron-bound trunks
belonging to commercial travelers, and the more fragile, but not less
bulky, saratogas, doubtless the property of the ladies who sat patiently
in the omnibus. Another vehicle which had just arrived was backing up
to the curb, and the irate driver used language suitable to the occasion;
for the two restive horses were not behaving exactly in the way he
liked.

A man with a stentorian, but monotonous and mournful, voice was
filling the air with the information that a train was about to depart for
Albany, Saratoga, Troy, Boston, New York, and the East. When he
came to the words "the East," his voice dropped to a sad Minor key, as
if the man despaired of the fate of those who took their departure in that
direction. Every now and then a brazen gong sounded sharply; and one
of the negroes who sat in a row on a bench along the marble-paneled
wall sprang forward to the counter, took somebody's handbag, and
disappeared in the direction of the elevator with the newly arrived guest
following him. Groups of men stood here and there conversing,
heedless of the rush of arrival and departure around them.
Before the broad and lofty plate-glass windows sat a row of men, some
talking, some reading, and some gazing outside, but all with their feet
on the brass rail which had been apparently put there for that purpose.
Nearly everybody was smoking a cigar. A lady of dignified mien came
down the hall to the front of the counter, and spoke quietly to the clerk,
who bent his well-groomed head deferentially on one side as he
listened to what she had to say. The men instantly made way for her.
She passed along among them as composedly as if she were in her own
drawing room, inclining her head slightly to one or other of her
acquaintances, which salutation was gravely acknowledged by the
raising of the hat and the temporary removal of the cigar from the lips.
All this was very strange to the professor, and he felt himself in a new
world, with whose customs he was not familiar. Nobody paid the
slightest attention to him as he stood there among it all with his satchel
in his hand. As he timidly edged up to the counter, and tried to
accumulate courage enough to address the clerk, a young man came
forward, flung his handbag on the polished top of the counter,
metaphorically brushed the professor aside, pulled the bulky register
toward him, and inscribed his name on the page with a rapidity equaled
only by the illegibility of the result.
"Hello, Sam!" he said to the