he white waistcoat or the way the curved white collar
cupped his billiard-ball of a chin, or it might have been the slight
frown about his eyebrows, or the patronizing smile that drifted over his
freshly laundered face; or it might have been the deprecating gesture
with which he consulted his watch: whatever it was, out went the boiler.

"Late! Are you the man that's running this lecture course?"

"Well, sir, I have the management of it."

"You have, have you? Then permit me to tell you right here, my friend,
that you ought to sublet the contract to a five-year-old boy. You let me
get out in the cold--send no conveyance as you agreed--"

"We sent our wagon, sir, to the station. You could have gone in
and warmed yourself, and if it had not arrived you could have
telephoned--the station is always warm."

"You have the impudence to tell me that I don't know whether a station
is closed or not, and that I can't see a wagon when it is hauled up
alongside a depot?"

The clammy hands went up in protest: "If you will listen, sir, I will--"

"No, sir, I will listen to nothing." and I forged ahead into a small
room where five or six belated people were hanging up their coats and
hats.

But the Immaculate still persisted:

"This is not where--Will you come into the dressing-room, sir? We have a
nice warm room for the lecturers on the other side of the--"

"No--sir; I won't go another step, except on to that platform, and I'm
not very anxious now to get there--not until I put something inside
of me--" (here I unstrapped my bag) "to save me from an attack of
pneumonia." (I had my flask out now and the cup filled to the brim.)
"When I think of how hard I worked to get here and how little you--"
(and down it went at one gulp).

The expression of disgust that wrinkled the placid face of the
Immaculate as the half-empty flask went back to its place, was
pathetic--but I wouldn't have given him a drop to have saved his life.

I turned on him again.

"Do you think it would be possible to get a vehicle of any kind to take
me where I am to sleep?"

"I think so, sir." His self-control was admirable.

"Well, will you please do it?"

"A sleigh has already been ordered, sir." This came through tightly
closed lips.

"All right. Now down which aisle is the entrance to the platform?"

"This way, sir." The highest glacier on Mont Blanc couldn't have been
colder or more impassive.

Just here a calming thought wedged itself into