all of the women daily
passed in review. They were an unusually attractive lot, for most of the
passengers were wealthy easterners on their way to California. Ramon had
never before seen together so many women of the kind that devotes time and
money and good taste to the business of creating charm. Perfectly gowned
and groomed, delicately scented, they filled him with desire and with envy
for the men who owned them. There were two newly married couples among the
passengers, and several intense flirtations were under way before the
train reached Kansas City. Ramon felt as though he were a spectator at
some delightful carnival. He was lonely and restless, yet fascinated.

For no opportunity of becoming other than a spectator had come to him. He
had chosen without difficulty the girl whom he preferred, but had only
dared to admire her from afar. She was a little blonde person, not more
than twenty, with angelic grey eyes, hair of the colour of ripe wheat and
a complexion of perfect pink and white. The number of different costumes
which she managed to don in two days filled him with amazement and gave
her person an ever-varying charm and interest. She appeared always
accompanied by a very placid-looking and portly woman, who was evidently
her mother, and a tall, cadaverous sick man, whose indifferent and pettish
attitude toward her seemed to indicate that he was either a brother or an
uncle, for Ramon felt sure that she was not married. She acquired no male
attendants, but sat most of the time very properly, if a little
restlessly, with her two companions. Once or twice Ramon felt her look
upon him, but she always turned it away when he glanced at her.

Whether because she was really beautiful in her own petite way, or because
she seemed so unattainable, or because her small blonde daintiness had a
peculiar appeal for him, Ramon soon reached a state of conviction that she
interested him more than any other girl he had ever seen. He discreetly
followed her about the train, watching for the opportunity that never
came, and consoling himself with the fact that no one else seemed more
fortunate in winning her favour than he. The only strange male who
attained to the privilege of addressing her was a long-winded and elderly
gentleman of the British perpetual-travelling type, at least one
representative of which is found on every transcontinental train, and it
was plain enough that he bored the girl.

Ramon took no interest in