ile freight trains straggled in
at all hours.

"When I came on duty that night, at seven o'clock, I saw that I was
going to have a busy time of it. Until that evening I can truthfully
say that I never knew what nervousness was; but scarcely had I entered
the station when I felt suddenly depressed. I attributed the feeling
to heat, and tried to pull myself together by poking fun at Herbert,
whom I accused of wilfully keeping the trains late in order to shirk
handling them. Every night Herbert gave me a written account of the
trains handled during the day, and especially drew my attention to any
crossing orders that had to be attended to. As Herbert was leaving the
room I glanced at the book and saw there were no orders on hand. This
should have satisfied me that everything was all right; but it did
not, and I called out to him and asked if there were any train orders.
He replied in a low, absent voice that there were none. I could not
help but notice his dejection, and a feeling of pity filled my heart
for him. The evening previous Julia had promised to be my wife.
Herbert did not know this, but I knew he had a presentiment that the
girl he so dearly loved cared more for me than she did for him. He did
not, however, show any resentment, but appeared strangely depressed.
After he had left the station, I tried to drive away from my mind the
foreboding of ill by reading; but, like Banquo's ghost, it would not
down. I began to think I was going to be seriously ill. Restlessly I
paced the floor, longing for, yet dreading, the approach of the
express train which was due at the station at 9 p.m. The wind had
risen and was buffeting the telegraph wires, making them hum in an
exasperating manner.

"As the minutes slowly wore away, my disquietude alarmingly increased.
I was charged with a nervous dread, for which I could not find the
slightest excuse; I knew, however, that in some strange way the
approaching express was the cause of it. I thought of Julia; surely
the demon of unrest would be banished if I saw her. With an almost
childish impulse I sought her presence. Before I had time to seat
myself, Julia, with a woman's keen perception, noticed my nervousness
and asked the cause of it. Man-like I laughed at her anxiety, and
tried to deceive her by being boisterously happy, but of course this
failed to allay her fears. Before five minutes had elapsed I was madly
anxious to get back to the operating room again, although I knew