Not seated by her side, certainly. Not even gone out to stretch his limbs. Ah, no! he had vanished with the dream.
Again her eyes overflowed with tears, and she sat back in her seat and wept bitterly in the loneliness and desolation of her heart. She missed the Tudor of her lovely dream. She longed for him with an infinite, agonized longing. She felt an almost irresistible impulse to leave the cars at that junction, and take the next train to her home, where she could arrive by morning—where she could throw herself upon her husband’s mercy and remain in peace.
But then again the memory of his cruel words pierced her through the heart, and left her helpless—wounded to the death, as it were. Those words were ringing through her spirit:
“No; I thank Heaven that I never loved you! I married you only to please my father! I never loved you! That dishonor has been spared me! In a few hours I shall leave this house—my father’s house—never to return while your presence desecrates it!”
Oh, no! With the sound of these degrading words still reverberating through her soul, she could not go back any more than she could have remained when she was there.
The car was now filled with passengers, and even the seat by her side was taken by a fat woman with an immense bundle in her lap, who crowded Lilith close against the side. She turned towards the window, drew her thick vail closer over her face, and wept silently but bitterly until once more overtasked nature yielded to weariness and to the smooth, swift, soothing motion of the train, and she slept; this time a dreamless sleep, that lasted until the train ran into the Baltimore station.
It was now six o’clock, and the eastern horizon was flushed with the coming sun.
Lilith awoke to find the train at a standstill, and all the passengers in motion. She roused her stupefied faculties and realized that she was at Baltimore, and that she wished to continue her journey to New York.
She arose and took up her hand-bag and left the car, went to the ticket office and inquired when the next train would leave for New York.
“At six-fifteen,” the busy agent replied.