hours to get to Quebec, it was certainly his duty
to go to Montreal. First of all, he must put himself out of danger of
every kind. He must not even fatigue himself too much; and he decided to
telegraph on to Wellwater, and secure a seat in the Pullman car to
Montreal. He had been travelling all day in the ordinary car, and he had
found it very rough.
It suddenly occurred to him that he must now assume a false name; and he
reflected that he must take one that sounded like his own, or else he
would not answer promptly and naturally to it. He chose Warwick, and he
kept saying it over to himself while he wrote his dispatch to the
station-master at Wellwater, asking him to secure a chair in the
Pullman. He was pleased with the choice he had made; it seemed like his
own name when spoken, and yet very unlike when written. But while he
congratulated himself on his quickness and sagacity, he was aware of
something detached, almost alien, in the operation of his mind. It did
not seem to be working normally; he could govern it, but it was like
something trying to get away from him, like a headstrong, restive horse.
The notion suggested the colt that had fallen lame; he wondered if
Elbridge would look carefully after it; and then he thought of all the
other horses. A torment of heartbreaking homesickness seized him; his
love for his place, his house, his children, seemed to turn against him,
and to tear him and leave him bleeding, like the evil spirit in the
demoniac among the tombs. He was in such misery with his longing for his
children, that he thought it must show in his face; and he made a feint
of having to rise and arrange his overcoat so that he could catch sight
of himself in the mirror at the end of the car. His face betrayed
nothing; it looked, as it always did, like the face of a kindly,
respectable man, a financially reliable face, the face of a leading
citizen. He gathered courage and strength from it to put away the
remorse that was devouring him. If that was the way he looked that was
the way he must be; and he could only be leaving those so dear to him
for some good purpose. He recalled that his purpose was to clear the
name they bore from the cloud that must fall upon it; to rehabilitate
himself; to secure his creditors from final loss. This was a good
purpose, the best purpose that a man in his place could have; he
recollected that he was to be careful of his life and health, because he
had dedicated himself to
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