The Argosy — page 272: what you’re looking at

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

The White Witch. 247 first-class compartment he came to before the train started. It was already in motion when a young, slight, fair man rushed on to the platform without having had time to take his ticket, and going, as Godfrey had done, straight to the nearest carriage, halted at that in which young Mr. Mayne was already seated. .Ben, standing at the door, glancing at Mr. Godfrey and thinking he looked very ill, was pushed aside by the new comer, who spoke sharply : ** Here, out of the way, will you!” and he opened the door and jumped in. Ben staggered back at sound of the voice, and stared at him with wide eyes, again and again. He then tore along by the side of the moving train, looking with eagerness into every carriage. At last he succeeded in finding Miss Dixon. She was not alone, as Ben knew: the old lady and gentleman, smothered in rugs, were curled up in the corner of the other end of the compartment. But Ben’s errand was too important for the presence of strangers to prevent his speaking ; he sprang up on the step and hissed out in a gruff whisper which made the old lady scream : Look out! Look out, miss. As sure as I’m alive there’s some- body after you.” Before Mary could speak Ben had sprung down and disappeared. Godfrey Mayne, feverish with anxiety about Mary, fatigued by premature exertion, was sitting a few carriages away from her, staring fixedly at the opposite seat, taking no notice of his fellow-traveller, who sat at his end of the carriage very quietly, apparently asleep. But when Godfrey, growing sick and faint with weakness, went to the window, opened it, put his head out, and then drew back, turned, and moved restlessly about, unable to keep still, he seemed to com- municate his uneasiness to his companion, who bent his head still lower on his breast as if in sleep, but gave from time to time keen glances at the other man. When the train, an express, reached its next stopping-place, Clewe, Godfrey felt too ill to get out and look for Mary’s carriage. When the guard came by to look at the tickets, his companion had to ex- plain that, having been only just in time to catch the train, he had started without one; and during the colloquy which followed as he drew out his purse and paid his fare, his voice, which he kept low, struck Godfrey and caused him to examine the stranger for the first time. He was so slight, so fair, so beardless, that he looked scarcely more than a boy; his eyes were light, his eyebrows and eyelashes flaxen, his mouth had thin, straight lips. Godfrey fancied he had somewhere seen somebody a little like him. The young man seemed disconcerted by the close attention his fellow-traveller now, for a few minutes, bestowed upon him; but as the train whirled on all Godfrey’s thoughts were diverted to Mary, and his chances of taking her safely to his aunt’s house in Eaton Gomicbooks (E(@)