xists who could come between us!" And a
woman must have been supernaturally thin to achieve the feat at that
moment.

But even Tudie, in her jealous dread, had no word to say against the
imminent Em. Everybody spoke so well of her that Orson had a mingled
expectation of seeing an Aphrodite and a Sister of Charity rolled into
one.

Now Carthage was by no means one of those petty towns where nearly
everybody goes to the station to meet nearly every train. But nearly
everybody went down to see Em arrive. Foremost among the throng was
Arthur Litton. Before Em left town he and she had been engaged "on
approval." While she was away he kept in practice by taking Liddy Sovey
to parties and prayer-meetings and picnics. Now that Em was on the way
home Arthur let Liddy drop with a thud and groomed himself once more to
wear the livery of Em's fiance.

When the crowd met the train it was recognized that Arthur was next in
importance to Em's father and mother. Nobody dreamed of pushing up ahead
of him. On the outskirts of the melee stood Orson Carver. He gave
railroad business as the pretext for his visit to the station, and he
hovered in the offing.

As the train from the East slid in, voices cried, "Hello, Em!" "Woo-oo!"
"Oh, Em!" "Oh, you Emma!" and other Carthage equivalents for "_Ave!_"
and "all hail!"

Orson saw that a girl standing on the Pullman platform waved a
handkerchief and smiled joyously in response. This must be Em. When the
train stopped with a pneumatic wail she descended the steps like a young
queen coming down from a dais.

She was gowned to the minute; she carried herself with metropolitan
poise; her very hilarity had the city touch. Orson longed to dash
forward and throw his coat under her feet, to snatch away the porter's
hand-step and put his heart there in its place. But he could not do
these things unintroduced. He hung back and watched her hug her mother
and father in a brief wrestling-match while Arthur stood by in simpering
homage.

When she reached out her hand to Arthur he wrung it and clung to it with
the dignity of proprietorship and a smirk that seemed to say: "I own
this beautiful object, and I could kiss her if I wanted to. And she
would like it. But I am too well bred to do such a thing in the presence
of so many people."

Orson was not close enough to hear what he actually said. The glow in
his eyes, however, was enough. Then Em visibly spoke. When her lips
moved Arthur stared at her