Then Mr. Campbell suddenly became conscious that he was talking too freely of private matters in a crowded car. He looked about him. But every one seemed too sleepy to attend to him.
The woman with the three babies was sound asleep, as was her brood, and the group reminded the curate of a fat, cozy pussy cat and her kittens.
The woman with the bundles was nodding, catching herself, gripping her parcels and nodding again.
These were the nearest passengers to the curate and his daughter, and had evidently not been listening to the conversation.
The express had been running on a long while without stopping, but now, about noon, the steam horn shrieked again and the train drew into the station of a large manufacturing town, stopped two minutes and roared on again.
The swift motion of the train, that sent nearly all the grown people to nodding and all the children to sleep, seemed to have so overpowered the nerves of Jennie’s young baby as to steep it into a deep stupor.
The little mother at length grew anxious.
“Don’t you think baby sleeps too soundly, papa?” she inquired uneasily.
“Oh, no, my dear! She is all right. She will sleep until we get home and then wake up as bright as a daisy.”
“Ten minutes for refreshments!” shouted the guard at the window, as he climbed along on the outside of the carriage, while the train drew into the station of another large town.