The next morning Briggs drove with his family to the morning train, leaving Guy to reply to his letters. When he bade them good-bye he tried to maintain a jocular air. The children clamored after him from the open window, and Dorothy’s face gave promise of tears. “Oh, I shall see you all in a few days,” he said, as he stood on the platform. “That is, if I hear that Dorothy and Jack are good. I won’t come if they are not good.”
“Oh, we’ll be awful good, papa,” said Dorothy, earnestly.
A thick-set young man, with big spectacles, came hurrying to the train, carrying a heavy suit-case. Briggs did not recognize him till he was close at hand.
“Oh, hello, Farley! Going on this train? That’s fine. You can look after these people of mine. Helen,” Briggs called through the window, “here’s Farley. He’s going over, too.”
“I don’t know that I can get a seat in the car,” Farley panted.
Briggs turned to the conductor, who stood at the steps. “Oh, I guess Lawton can fix you up,” he remarked, pleasantly, displaying his genius for remembering names.
The conductor brightened. “Oh, that’ll be all right,” he said. “Just jump in,” he added, to Farley. “There are two or three vacant places, and I’ll try to get one of the passengers to change, so that you can sit with the Congressman’s family.”
Briggs walked forward and stood at the window. “I feel more comfortable now,” he said to Farley, with a smile.
The conductor managed to secure the seat beside Helen, and a moment later the train pulled out of the station. Farley had begun to entertain Dorothy and Jack, whom he had seen a few times at home and in the parks. He seemed to know how to approach children; he never talked down to them; he gave them the feeling that they were meeting him on equal terms. His honest eyes and his large, smiling mouth at once won their confidence.
“I’m just running over for Sunday,” he explained to Helen. “Awful day to travel, isn’t it? But we’re going to have a pretty important meeting of our club—the Citizens’ Club, you know. We’re getting after Rathburn. Know him?”