H. B. Marriott Watson

“ I managed to find not a seat but standing room in another carriage, into which I was hilariously welcomed. To say the truth, I was afraid of more peppermints and whiskey, and as the windows were closed here also, and a moist heat arose from fifteen human bodies, I resolved to go. I got out at Clapham Junction, with the intention of abandoning to the delirium of the holiday makers the whole railway service, and of securing a cab for the rest of my journey.
The catacombs of Clapham Junction are well known to all Londoners. ”

“ The train was in and the platform bustled. We found seats, settled into them, and were off. As the train moved the girl seemed to lose her diffidence all of a sudden. She was committed to the venture, and behaved like a philosopher. I say like a philosopher, but that is hardly the word. She developed her talent for conversation, and bridled. The philosopher does not bridle. There was never yet a woman who had not the desire for admiration, and, free of her mate, this one expanded in the atmosphere of civil compliments. ”

“ One, whom I had stopped in despair to inquire the whereabouts of the road in which I hoped Lily lived, was good enough to comment on the situation.
“You really didn't ought to be left with the baby,” she declared kindly.
I had an impulse to confide in her. “Well, you see,” I began, “it's Bank Holiday, and——”
But her brisk imagination had taken fire.
“Oh, it's that way, is it? Well, your wife ought to be ashamed of herself,” she declared with indignation, “letting a respectable man like you——”
I wondered what she thought my wife had done. ”

“ I said, and opened the door into the saloon bar.
The stout landlady was serving belated guests, heedless of whom I advanced, crying, “Have you got my baby?”
The landlady looked up. “There's a man in the next compartment says it's his baby,” she said, eyeing me suspiciously.
“Then it isn't—it's mine,” I returned eagerly, anxious to clear myself with Lily. “At least,” I added, “it's this lady's.”
“Well, you don't seem quite certain whose it is,” said the landlady, examining Lily with cold disapproval. ”

“ I was relieved so far that he had not offered violence, though his manner threatened it.
“But of all the cheekiest things—to come to my own 'ouse!” he asserted, and words seemed to leave him there.
It was here I was at last able to interpose. “By an accident,” I said, “I was enabled to help your wife when she had lost you at Clapham——”
“Accident!” he repeated, with a convulsive sneer. “Just don't talk to me of accident. I seen you. I seen the pair of you. Where's my wife, I arst you?” ”

“ Indeed, he went so far as to call in another man, who asserted that he didn't believe there was such a road in the neighbourhood. I began to be alarmed, and to doubt my memory. Was it Canonbury Road she had said? My distress may have been communicated to the baby, who at that moment resumed its wailing. This drew the attention of a young lady with a very small waist, who put her head round the glass compartment to see what had happened. I must suppose the deserted father with a child on his hands appealed to her sympathy. She came forward and admired the baby. ”

“ They concentrated their attention on the couple.
“You'd just better go,” said Lily, authoritatively. “You've had quite enough,” and she pulled a veil over the baby's head.
“Outside, please—outside!” cried the stentorian voice of the barman.
We moved outside, and here “Jack” made one more attempt to sustain his injured dignity.
“If I am only a painter,” he said, “I'm not going to 'ave my wife and my baby took away by a——”
“Silence, man,” said I, in my severest voice. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, and proud and thankful you have such a wife and such a baby. I wish I had.” ”

“ It was quite dark, but a lamp in the station flared on us, and the door was opened. Some one got out, and I sat down in his seat, which was next to the girl and the baby. She had put her face to the window and looked out, and that, I suppose, did it. At all events, a man entered and addressed her hilariously, and from his staccato titter I recognised him.
“Been lookin' out for you all along, old girl,” he said. “Where'd you get to? I 'adn't bin a moment 'fore you slipped me. Tell you what: I seen the girl again, the one what was in the Palace—you know. ”

“ They have much to endure, and are no doubt dreadfully badgered. Perhaps we had delayed too long. At any rate the guard was clearly in a hurry, and a porter banged the door in my face. At the same time I heard a cry from the girl on the platform.
“It isn't this station—it's the next.”
I strove to open the door, but was hampered with the baby. Moreover, as luck had it, the coat of the passenger who sat by the door had been jammed in it. We both wrestled with the handle in vain. The guard whistled. Lily's clamour from without assailed the sky. But the effort was hopeless—the train lurched on ”