tion; but in that instance they seemed to be
superfluous. Whether Colonel Egbert Crawford disdained to pursue his
route at that early hour in the morning, or whether he had one more
favorable report to make at the Adjutant-General's office, of the
condition of the Two Hundredth Regiment, detaining him in Albany for
another train,--certain it is that he did not make his appearance, and
that the "amateur detective" and her companion were free to choose any
of the cars of the train. A rapid ride through the Mohawk Valley, with
the quiet river of the same name ever at their side, and the Erie Canal
continually in view, with its pleasant reminder of the extent and the
wealth of the Empire State,--and before their morning's conversation was
half finished (for what check or bound is there to the invaluable
nothings of two lovers who have not yet recovered from the novelty of
their first impressions?) they dashed up to the station at Utica and
alighted for dinner at the American.

It is no matter, here, what arrangements had been made between the two
for their subsequent meeting and correspondence; it is enough to know
that no fetter has yet been forged by any Tubal Cain of them all, strong
enough to hold apart those who choose to single out each other from the
world. Tom Leslie and Josephine Harris were to meet again, and at an
early day; and with that understanding both were reasonably well
content--the male member of the combination because he had no option,
and the female member because she really had such a multitude of
benevolent plans in her busy brain that she had no time to be otherwise.

Before Josephine Harris had finished her capital dinner at the American,
and ceased trifling with those magnificent strawberries, the finest of
any season within memory, (that young person was favored with a most
unromantic appetite, and often managed to astonish those who had the
pleasure of paying her bills at a restaurant dinner or supper)--before
all this was accomplished, and before the bell had rung, calling the
passengers for the Northward to resume their seats on the train, Leslie
had succeeded in discovering the whereabouts of the proper stage for the
remainder of Miss Josey's journey, and making the necessary
arrangements for her baggage and her personal accommodation. This done,
and his mind at rest on that particular point, the bell rung, the two
made a hurried farewell, in which a warm pressure of the hand served
(for pr