AT
land's mine yet,' says he.

"If that wa'n't him all over! I couldn't think what to say, except that
folks would laugh some, I cal'lated.

"'Not at us, they won't,' says he. 'We'll clear out till the laughin' is
over. Olive, to-morrer mornin' we'll call on Parson Hilton and then take
the ten o'clock train. I feel's if a trip to Washin'ton would be about
right just now.'

"She started and blushed and then looked up into his face. 'Solomon,'
she says, low, 'I really would like to go to Niagara.'

"He shook his head. 'Old lady,' says he, 'I guess you don't quite
understand this thing. See here'--p'intin' to his house loomin' big and
black in the roadway--'see! the mountain has come to Mahomet.'"

Mrs. Phinney had heard enough. She sprang from her chair and seized her
husband's hands.

"Splendid!" she cried, her face beaming. "Oh, AIN'T it lovely! Ain't you
glad for 'em, Simeon?"

"Glad! Say, Emeline; there's some of that wild-cherry bounce down
cellar, ain't there? Let's break our teetotalism for once and drink a
glass to Cap'n and Mrs. Solomon Berry. Jerushy! I got to do SOMETHIN' to
celebrate."

On the Hill Boulevard the summer wind stirred the silverleaf poplars.
The thick, black shadows along the sidewalks were heavy with the perfume
of flowers. Captain Sol, ex-depot master of East Harniss, strolled on
in the dark, under the stars, his hands in his pockets, and in his heart
happiness complete and absolute.

Behind him twinkled the lamp in the window of the Edwards house, so soon
to be torn down. Before him, over the barberry hedge, blazed the windows
of the mansion the owner of which was responsible for it all. The
windows were open, and through them sounded the voices of the mighty
Ogden Hapworth Williams and his wife, engaged in a lively altercation.
It was an open secret that their married life was anything but peaceful.

"What are you grumbling about now?" demanded 'Williams. "Don't I give
you more money than--"

"Nonsense!" sneered Mrs. Williams, in scornful derision. "Nonsense,
I say! Money is all there is to you, Ogden. In other things, the real
things of this world, those you can't buy with money, you're a perfect
imbecile. You know nothing whatever about them."

Captain Sol, alone on the walk by the hedge, glanced in the direction
of the shrill voice, then back at the lamp in Olive's window. And he
laughed aloud.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Depot Master, by Joseph C.