Produced by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[Illustration: [See p. 5 "'GOOD HEAVENS!' HE SAID. 'WHERE'S MY SISTER?'"]
A YOUNG MAN IN A HURRY AND OTHER SHORT STORIES
AUTHOR OF "THE MAIDS OF PARADISE" "CARDIGAN" "THE MAID-AT-ARMS" "THE KING IN YELLOW" ETC
NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1904
_All rights reserved._ Published October, 1904.
"'GOOD HEAVENS!' HE SAID. 'WHERE'S MY SISTER?'" _Frontispiece_
"'I LOVE YOU ENOUGH TO WAIT A MILLION YEARS!'" _Facing p. 20_
"'I MEANT TO TAKE SOME FLOWERS, ANYWAY'" " 28
"'HERE ARE THE VIOLETS; ... I WILL TIE THEM TO YOUR COLLAR'" " 34
"AWAY THEY WENT, KNEE-DEEP IN DRY SILVERY GRASSES" " 132
"THERE WAS THAT IN BURLESON'S EYES THAT SOBERED HER" " 164
"'I WISH YOU'D GIVE MARLITT ANOTHER CHANCE'" " 242
"HE SAW HER THE MOMENT HE ENTERED THE WISTARIA ARBOR" " 250
"Soyez tranquilles, mesdames.... Je suis un jeune homme pressé.... Mais modeste."--LABICHE.
At ten minutes before five in the evening the office doors of the Florida and Key West Railway Company flew open, and a young man emerged in a hurry.
Suit-case in one hand, umbrella in the other, he sped along the corridor to the elevator-shaft, arriving in time to catch a glimpse of the lighted roof of the cage sliding into depths below.
"Down!" he shouted; but the glimmering cage disappeared, descending until darkness enveloped it.
Then the young man jammed his hat on his head, seized the suit-case and umbrella, and galloped down the steps. The spiral marble staircase echoed his clattering flight; scrub-women heard him coming and fled; he leaped a pail of water and a mop; several old gentlemen flattened themselves against the wall to give him room; and a blond young person with pencils in her hair lisped "Gee!" as he whizzed past and plunged through the storm-doors, which swung back, closing behind him with a hollow thwack.
Outside in the darkness, gray with whirling snowflakes, he saw the wet lamps of cabs shining, and he darted along the line of hansoms and coupés in frantic search for his own.
"Oh, there you are!" he panted, flinging his suit-case up to a snow-covered driver. "Do your best now; we're late!" And he leaped into the dark coupé, slammed the door, and sank back on the cushions, turning up the collar of his heavy overcoat.