The last words were said in his throat, and opened up a wide abyss of possibilities into which I had not the curiosity to penetrate. I only felt impelled to ask:
"Was her death attended with any unusual circumstance that you speak of his sorrow as a shock?"
For reply he went to his desk, and after some fumbling brought out several slips of paper, from among which he chose one which he passed over to me.
"I have kept this account of a very tragic occurrence, for reasons you will appreciate on reading it."
I took the slip and perused it. With no apology for its length, I introduce it here. As you will see, it is an engineer's account of the extraordinary accident which took place on the B., F. and D. road some half-dozen years ago. It begins abruptly, the extract having been closely clipped from the columns of the paper containing it:
