Page:Cy Warman--The express messenger and other tales of the rail.djvu/231

Rh was the face of a mad woman. I read it wrong, and returned at once to you to learn the cause of her distress. I heard you call Eastcreek and ask for the special,—your last message that day,—and heard the answer 'Gone' and saw you fall. But the frail woman whom you had turned away, did not fail. While you fell fainting among the ink-stands and instruments she rushed into the hotel over the way, and finding no one in the Western Union office, took the key and began calling Westcreek. She could not see the clock as you did, and she called, and called; and when at last the operator answered she told him to hold No. 8. 'No. 8 is gone,' said the operator. 'Hold her,' said the wire back at him, and fearing the operator might question the message, she sent your initials at the end of the order. It was her persistency in ordering the operator to hold an express train that had already gone by, that inspired the agent with the idea of following the train. You know the rest."

"Who is this woman?" asked the President, and the superintendent told him the story of the girl—of her father's death; how she had