e only passenger;
this was his day off.

Mrs. Ryan was sitting on her doorstep to rest in the early evening; her
husband had been promoted from switch-tender to boss of the great
water-tank which was just beginning to be used, and there was talk of
further improvements and promotions at Birch Plains; but the
good-natured wife sensibly declared that the better off a woman was,
the harder she always had to work.

She took a long look at Johnny, who was dressed even more carefully
than if it were a pleasant Sunday.

"This don't be your train, annyway," she answered, in a meditative
tone. "How come you here now all so fine, I 'd like to know, riding in
the cars like a lord; ain't you brakeman yet on old twinty-four?"

"'Deed I am, Mrs. Ryan; you would n't be afther grudging a boy his day
off? Where's Nora?"

"She's gone up the road a bitteen," said Mrs. Ryan, as if she suddenly
turned to practical affairs. "She 's worked hard the day, poor shild!
and she took the cool of the evening, and the last bun she had left,
and wint away with herself. I kep' the taypot on the stove for her,
but she 'd have none at all, at all!"

The young man turned away, and Mrs. Ryan looked after him with an
indulgent smile. "He's a pritty b'y," she said. "I 'd like well if he
'd give a look at one o' me own gerrls; Julia, now, would look well
walking with him, she 's so dark. He's got money saved. I saw the
first day he come after the cakeens 't was the one that baked them was
in his mind. She's lucky, is Nora; well, I'm glad of it."

It was fast growing dark, and Johnny's eyes were still dazzled by the
bright lights of the train as he stepped briskly along the narrow
country road. The more he had seen Nora and the better he liked her,
the less she would have to say to him, and tonight he meant to find her
and have a talk. He had only succeeded in getting half a dozen words
at a time since the night of their first meeting on the slow train,
when she had gladly recognized the peculiar brogue of her own
country-side, as Johnny called the names of the stations, and Johnny's
quick eyes had seen the tired-looking, uncertain, yet cheerful little
greenhorn in the corner of the car, and asked if she were not the niece
that was coming out to Mrs. Duffy. He had watched the growth of her
business with delight, and heard praises of the cakes and buns with
willing ears; was it not his own suggestion that had laid the
foundation of Nora's p