The Albany Depot | Page 9

all the way from the station door as fast as I could run, and I'm
perfectly out of breath. Did you ever hear of anything like my meeting
Amy on the very instant? She was getting out of her coupe just as I was
getting out of mine, and I saw her the first thing as soon as I looked up.
It was the most wonderful chance. And the moment we pushed our way

through the door and got inside the outer hall, I heard the man calling
the train--he calls so distinctly--and I told her I was sure it was our train;
and then we just simply flew, both of us. I had the greatest time getting
my plush bag. They were all locked up at Stearns's as tight as a drum,
but I saw somebody inside, moving about, and I rattled the door, and
made signs till he came; and then I said I had left my plush bag; and he
said it was against the rules, and I'd have to come Monday; and I told
him I knew it was, and I didn't expect him to transgress the rules, but I
wished very much to have my plush bag, because there were some
things in it that I wished to have, as well as my purse; for I'd brought
away my keys in it; and I knew Willis--how d'ye do, Willis?--would
want wine with his dinner, and you'd have to break the closet open if I
didn't get the key; and so he said he would see if the person who kept
the picked-up things was there yet; and it turned out he was, and he
asked me for a description of the bag and its contents; and I described
them all, down to the very last thing; and he said I had the greatest
memory he ever saw. And now I think everything is going off perfectly,
and I shall be able to show Amy that there's something inland as well as
at the seaside. Why don't you speak to her, Edward? What is the matter?
What are you looking at?" She detects him in the act of craning his
neck to this side and that, and peering over people's heads and
shoulders in the direction of the door. "Hasn't Norah--Bridget, I
mean--come yet?" She frowns significantly, and cautions him
concerning Mrs. Campbell by pressing her finger to her lip.
Roberts: "Yes--yes, she's here; I suppose she's--she's here. How do you
do, Amy? So glad--" He continues his furtive inspection of the
door-way, and Willis turns away with a snicker.
Mrs. Campbell: "Willis, what are you laughing at? Is there anything
wrong with my bonnet? Agnes, is there? He would let me go about
looking like a perfect auk. Did I bang it getting out of the coupe. Do
tell me, Willis!"
Mrs. Roberts, to her husband: "You don't mean to say you haven't seen
her yet?"
Roberts, desperately: "Seen her? How should I know whether I've seen
her? I never saw her in my life."
Mrs. Roberts: "Then what are you looking for, in that way?"
Roberts: "I--I'm looking for her husband."

Mrs. Roberts: "Her husband?"
Roberts: "Yes. He keeps coming back." Campbell bursts into a wild
shriek of laughter.
Mrs. Roberts, imploringly: "Willis, what does it mean?"
Mrs. Campbell, threateningly: "Willis, if you don't behave yourself--"
Mrs. Roberts, with the calm of despair: "Well, then, she isn't coming!
She's given us the slip! I might have known it! Well, the cat might as
well come out of the bag first as last, Amy, though I was trying to keep
it in, to spare your feelings; I knew you'd be so full of sympathy."
Suddenly to her husband: "But if you saw her husband--Did he say she
sent him? I didn't dream of her being married. How do you know it's
her husband?"
Roberts: "Because--because she went out and got him! Don't I tell
you?"
Mrs. Roberts: "Went out and got him?"
Roberts: "When I spoke to her."
Mrs. Roberts: "When you spoke to her? But you said you didn't see
her!"
Roberts: "Of course I didn't see her. How should I see her, when I
never saw her before? I went up and spoke to her, and she said she
wasn't the one. She was very angry, and she went out and got her
husband. He was tipsy, and he's been coming back ever since. I don't
know what to do about the wretched creature. He says I've insulted his
abominable wife!"
Campbell, laughing: "O Lord! Lord! This will be the death of me!"
Mrs. Campbell: "This is one of your tricks, Willis; one of your vile
practical jokes."
Campbell: "No, no, my dear! I couldn't invent anything equal to this.
Oh my! oh my!"
Mrs.