for the train was not due at Winter Park till after eight
o'clock. It seemed just like being in a house, it went so smooth and
firm; and when people looked in the windows at stations, I'd imagine
they were wondering what nabob that boy was, to be travelling in such
style. And then I'd think of having only fifty cents in my pocket, and
I'd have to laugh.

"It seemed just no time at all before we got to Lakeland, where the
superintendent left me. He told me to take a nap on the sofa if I got
sleepy, for I still had a four hours' ride, and to be sure and slam the
door when I got out. Then I had the grand car all to myself, and wasn't
I just prouder than ever! I wanted to go all over it and look at all the
handsome things, but I wouldn't do it, because that would be just like
sneaking over anybody's house. I staid right in the office, and pretty
soon it began to grow dark, for there was nobody to light the lamps in
the car, and I began to grow sleepy. So I spread out a newspaper for my
feet, and lay down on the sofa.

"Did you ever see anything as soft as these sofas? It was like floating
in the air, and I imagined myself riding on that magic carpet in the
_Arabian Nights_. But there was something lacking, as there always is. I
was as hungry as a bear, for I'd eaten nothing since morning. Then I
thought of the fifty cents in my pocket, and the buffet they always have
in the sleepers and parlor cars in Florida, and how easy it would be to
go into the next car and buy some supper. But didn't I fasten back the
catch of the door carefully before I went out? You see, I'd have been
only an ordinary passenger if the door had locked after me, for I
couldn't have got back.

"The waiter in the parlor car looked at me a kind of queer when I
ordered my supper. 'Do you belong in this car?' said he.

"'Oh no,' said I. 'I have a private car in the rear.' Well, sir, after
that you'd have thought I was the President of the United States from
the way he waited on me. My fifty cents didn't buy very much, but it was
enough.

"In a few minutes I was back on my sofa in No. 100, with the door
locked. It was almost dark, and getting chilly, but having a fine
private car all to myself more than made up for that. Just think of it!
It was almost as though I owned the car. Even the conductor didn't come
in, for they don't go into a railroad president's private car to ask for
tickets.

"I took a soft rug off the floor and pulled it over me, and