seemed to me to
get through their journey with less enjoyment after all than their
poor fellow travelers. These last appeared to be of tougher texture,
to care less for being jolted and shaken, to be better humored and
kinder to one another. They had found life go hard with them wherever
they had been, and not being accustomed to have everything which they
wished for, they were less selfish and more considerate.

The intimation that our journey was for the present at an end came on
most of us as an unpleasant surprise. The grandees got out in a high
state of indignation. They called for their servants, but their
servants did not hear them, or laughed and passed on. The conductors
had forgotten to be obsequious. All classes on the platform were
suddenly on a level. A beggar woman hustled the duchess, as she was
standing astonished because her maid had left her to carry her own
bag. The patricians were pushed about among the crowd with no more
concern than if they had been common mortals. They demanded loudly to
see the station-master. The minister complained angrily of the delay;
an important negotiation would be imperiled by his detention, and he
threatened the company with the displeasure of his department. A
consequential youth who had just heard of the death of his elder
brother was flying home to take his inheritance. A great lady had
secured, as she had hoped, a brilliant match for her daughter; her
work over, she had been at the baths to recover from the dissipation
of the season; difficulty had arisen unlooked for, and unless she was
at hand to remove it the worst consequences might be feared. A banker
declared that the credit of a leading commercial house might fail,
unless he could be at home on the day fixed for his return; he alone
could save it. A solicitor had the evidence in his portmanteau which
would determine the succession to the lands and title of an ancient
family. An elderly gentleman was in despair about his young wife, whom
he had left at home; he had made a will by which she was to lose his
fortune if she married again after his death, but the will was lying
in his desk unsigned. The archbishop was on his way to a synod, where
the great question was to be discussed whether gas might be used at
the altar instead of candles. The altar candles were blessed before
they were used, and the doubt was whether gas could be blessed. The
right reverend prelate conceived that if the gas tubes were made in
t