The Vestibule Limited Mystery — page 42: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE VESTIBULE LIMITED MYSTERY. 33 business that even on a railway journey they iike to be tied to their office with a connecting wire. To the Englishmen this must indeed bea great surprise, for they treat business very lightly across the big pond, making it of secondary importance to many things in life. There is also a ladies’ maid aboard, which is quite a nice thing for ladies travel- ing unattended or with childern. ; The old violinist wipes his. hands upon a towel, several times losing his balance, and nearly pitching into a mirror for the train is plunging along up the valley of the Juniata at a great rate of speed. As he turns to leave I manage to say: “Come in and sit down a while, friend, if thee is not in a hurry to return.” “Si, signor, | do not care if I do,” he replies, with “a smile, and passes into the smoking-room. Here all is gloom, but I have my eye on a pendant knob near the corner, which I manage to insert in its proper place, and with the connection an electric | light flashes up, soft and yet powerful. Here is another marvel of Yankee ingenuity to amaze our slow going English cousins. As I believed, the little compartment is quite empty, and its soft cushions invite us to take it comfortably. The train jerks somewhat roughly, while thus speeding along toward Altoona, so that it is much more pleasant to be seated than endeavor to maintain an equilibrium standing. The Professor drops into a corner and I find a seat | beside him. If we are to have a confidential little chat, it is just as well that the ice be broken at once. I take out the novel and lay it in his lap. “Thee was very kind and considerate to loan me the book, Professor; but’ thee knows I could not ” 7 comicboo nN cS €O