“Perhaps the boat is typical,” Kit remarked. “Not very long since, the half-breed voyagers poled their canoes up the Assiniboine and settlers crossed the plains in Red River carts. Now I expect a flour-mill clerk goes as far on a holiday afternoon as the voyagers went in a week. Although the romance the others knew is gone, a gasoline launch and a railroad car have some advantages.”
“Do you think the Red River settlers were romantic?”
“If the folk in the hotel windows are their descendants, I begin to doubt. All the same, when you see them mend a broken track, you’re forced to acknowledge them a hefty lot. Well, suppose we admit the Red River man’s main object was to get there? Don’t you see his doing so is important?”
“I’d sooner talk about something else,” said Alison quietly. “When you arranged about my sleeper I was not altogether satisfied, and to-day I made inquiries. You gave me your ticket.”
“So long as you are satisfied we won’t dispute,” said Kit. “Since I knew your independence I might, of course, have bought another ticket and allowed you to pay; but I did not. I got a berth for nothing on board the Colonist, and since I slept until morning neither of us has much grounds to grumble.”
Alison touched his arm. “I didn’t want to grumble. I think I wanted you to know I knew. To find people do things like that is encouraging.”
“You mustn’t exaggerate. To-night we’re forlorn strangers, but when you are a big company’s secretary and I have built a famous bridge we’ll meet for dinner at an expensive hotel and talk about the evening we arrived at Winnipeg.”
“Ah,” said Alison, “I may not get the chance I want; but if I am lucky, I’ll know you helped and I’ll meet you where you like. In the meantime, perhaps, we ought to start for the station.”
They went back. Nobody yet knew when the trains would go, and Kit put Alison’s rug on a bench in the waiting hall and sat down on his bag. The spacious hall was rather like a palace than an English waiting-room. The light was soft and clear. Noble columns supported the huge glass dome and good pictures of Canadian landscapes occupied the walls. The ornamental benches were moulded to one’s body and the floor was white marble.
The passengers, however, did not harmonize with the hall. Listless, dusty emigrants leaned against the pillars and crowded the benches. For the most part their clothes were threadbare and their boots were broken. They used bundles for pillows, and some who slept extended arms and legs in uncouth poses. A number had spread ragged blankets on the marble flags, and dejected groups, surrounded by their baggage, lay about. Kit saw broken boxes, bundles covered by colored quilts, and rolls of dirty bedding. It looked as if the foreigners had brought all their household goods and would not risk the stuff in the baggage cars.