Earl Derr Biggers

“ The train sped on.
A most uncomfortable situation! If only it would grow light! It seemed so silly to be forced to find the view out the window entrancing while it was still very dark.
Spencer Meyrick went forward to the smoker. Aunt Mary, weary of life, slid gently down to slumber. Her unlovely snore filled the dim car.
How different this from the first ride together! The faint pink of the sky grew brighter. Now Minot could see the gray moss hanging to the evergreens, and here and there a squalid shack where human beings lived and knew nothing of life. ”

“ The train had come to a stop, and Aunt Mary stirred fretfully in her sleep. With sudden decision Cynthia Meyrick wrote on the card and dropped it on her slumbering relative.
"I know I'll be sorry—but—" she gasped
"Hurry! This way! The conductor's coming there!"
A moment later they stood together on the platform of the Sunbeam station, while the brief little train disappeared indignantly in the distance.
"You shouldn't have made me do that!" cried the girl in dismay. "I'm always doing things on the spur of the moment—things I regret afterward—"
"I know. You explained that to me once. ”

“ Because I realized that if some one came in my place I'd have to go away and never see you again—and I couldn't do that I had to be near you, dear girl—don't worry, he can't hear, the motor's too noisy—I had to be where I could see that little curl making a question mark round your ear—where I could hear your voice—I had to be near you even if to do it I must break my heart by marrying you to another man. ”