Part 17 (1/2)

There was a man standing on the next corner, and Ralph stopped and asked him if he was on the right road to get to the station. The man laughed good-naturedly, and told him he was on the right road to get away from it, and advised him to retrace his steps for four blocks, then to go two blocks to the left, and there he would find a street running diagonally across the town, which, if he would follow it, would take him very near to the station. He would have to hurry, too, the man said, if he wanted to catch the noon train.

So Ralph turned back, counting the blocks as he went, turning at the right place, and coming, at last, to the street described. But, instead of one street running diagonally from this point there were two or three; and Ralph did not know which one to follow. He asked a boy, who was pa.s.sing by with a basket on his shoulder, where the station was, and the boy, bending his neck and looking at him, said,--

”I guess this's the way you want to go, sonny,” pointing down one of the streets, as he spoke, and then whistling a merry tune as he trudged on with his burden.

Ralph turned into the street designated, and hurried down it, block after block; but he did not reach the station, nor did he see any place that looked like it. He seemed to be in the suburbs, too, in a locality the surroundings of which impressed him unpleasantly. The buildings were small and dilapidated, there was a good deal of rubbish on the sidewalks and in the streets, a few ragged children were playing in the gutter near by, s.h.i.+vering with cold as they ran about in bare, dirty feet, and a drunken man, leaning against a post on the opposite corner, was talking affectionately to some imaginary person in the vicinity. Ralph thought that this, certainly, was not where he ought to be. He walked more slowly, trying to find some one who would give him reliable directions.

At the corner of the block there was a house that looked somewhat better than its neighbors. It had a show-window projecting a few inches into the street, and in the window was a display of wine-bottles, and a very dirty placard announcing that oysters would be served to customers, in every style. On the ground-gla.s.s comprising the upper part of the door, the words ”Sample Room” were elaborately lettered. Ralph heard some one talking inside, and, after a moment of hesitation, concluded to go in there and make his inquiry, as the need of finding his way had come to be very pressing. Coming in, as he did, from the street, the room was quite dark to his eyes, and he could not well make out, at first, who were in it. But he soon discovered a man standing, in his s.h.i.+rt-sleeves, behind a bar, and he went up to him and said:--

”Will you please tell me, sir, which is the nearest way to the railroad station?”

”Which station d'ye want to go to, bub?” inquired the man, leaning over the bar to look at him.

”The one you take the train for Scranton from.”

”Which train for Scranton d'ye want to take?”

”The one't leaves at noon.”

”Why that train goes in just five minutes. You couldn't catch that train now, my little cupid, if you should spread your wings and fly to the station.”

It was not the bar-tender who spoke this time; it was a young man who had left his chair by the stove and had come up closer to get a better look at the boy. He was just slipping a silver watch back into his vest pocket. It was a black silk vest, dotted with little red figures.

Below the vest, encasing the wearer's legs very tightly, were a pair of much soiled corduroy pantaloons that had once been of a lavender shade. Over the vest was a short, dark, double-breasted sack coat, now unb.u.t.toned. A large gaudy, flowing cravat, and an ill-used silk hat, set well back on the wearer's head, completed this somewhat noticeable costume.

There was a good-natured looking face under the hat though, smooth and freckled; but the eyes were red and heavy, and the tip of the straight nose was of quite a vermilion hue.

”No, my dear boy,” he continued,--

”You can't catch it, And I can't fetch it,

”so you may as well take it easy and wait for the next one.”

”When does the next one go?” inquired Ralph, looking up at the strange young man, but with his eyes still unaccustomed to the darkness of the room.

”Four o'clock, my cherub; not till four o'clock. Going up on that train myself, and I'll see you right through:--

”Oh, sonny! if you'll wait and go with me, How happy and delighted I should be.”

Then the young man did a strange thing; he took hold of Ralph's arm, led him to the window, turned his face to the light and scrutinized it closely.

”Well, I'll be kicked to death by gra.s.shoppers!” he exclaimed, at last, ”have I found--do I behold--is this indeed the long lost Ralph?”

The boy had broken away from him, and stood with frightened, wondering face, gazing steadily on the young man, as if trying to call something to memory. Then a light of recognition came into his eyes, and a smile to his lips.

”Why!” he exclaimed, ”it's Joe; it's Rhymin' Joe!”

”A happy meeting,” said the young man, ”and a mutual remembrance.

Heart speaks to heart.