He consulted his watch; they were running four minutes behind.
As the train picked up speed, his eyes bored the obscurity. "That dark
place ... somewhere there is the road to Uncle Jimmy Barbour's farm.
You'll see it all with me soon, dearest dear."
She looked ahead toward the darkness he indicated. Now they had plunged
past it.
She heard the porter approach for the third time. Pelham's tone was a
trifle uneven. "The stateroom's made up? Thanks very much. Will you call
us in time for Pascagoula?"
Us!... Jane's heart thumped; she wondered if his ears could fail to hear
it.
"Dearest," he said slowly, "will you go in?... I'll come in half an
hour.... Will that be enough?"
Her reply was so low, she wondered if he could have heard. He held her
to him for a moment, as if unhappy to lose one moment of her. And then
she shut the door, and turned into the lighted isolation of the
stateroom, soon to offer her to a panicky common publicity.
... She heard him open the outer door; her flurried fingers summoned the
unbetraying darkness.
A. M.
Lower Peachtree | 4.10|
Jane stared out of the bare three inches of the misted window; she had
raised the curtain that much. The train was gaining momentum again. The
unbroken night sped by; only her imagination could give it form and
life. The unbroken future lay ahead; drowsily she reflected that only
her imagination, her shaping hand, could mold it to the heaven they both
desired. Pelham was at last asleep ... her husband was asleep....
Her hand lowered the curtain again. Facing the chill blackness without
the window, she tried to drowse off. At length she turned toward him,
for the moment absent, yet still tangibly hers. She snuggled into the
warmer place by his side, touching him to make sure he was still there.
MOBILE |Ar. 4.45|
MOBILE |Lv. 4.53|
There was no consciousness stirring in the breathing state-room, to note
the stop and the few belated night-travelers for the western gulf
region. But in their dreams these two, separated by sleep, were again
united. There was a smile playing across Jane's cheek; and a deep
content resting upon Pelham's face.