And he set off.
"Here!" Simeon called him peremptorily. "Take this--in case you don't
come back."
And he handed him the small bright object.
"But I must come back. I can't possibly go without the trunk. All my
things are in it."
"I know that, man. _But perhaps you'll have to go without it_. Hurry!"
Arthur ran. He encountered the senior porter at the gate of the station.
"Where's Merrith?" he began. "He was to have--"
"Merrith's mother is dead--died at five o'clock," said the senior
porter. "And I'm here all alone."
Arthur stopped as if shot.
"Well," he recovered himself. "Lend me a barrow."
"I shall lend ye no barrow. It's against the rules. Since they
transferred our stationmaster to Clegg there's been an inspector down
here welly [well nigh] every day."
"But I must _have_ a barrow."
"I shall lend ye no barrow," said the senior porter, a brute.
A signal close to the signal-box clattered down from red to green.
"Her's signalled," said the senior porter. "Are ye travelling by her?"
Arthur had to decide in a moment. Must he or must he not abandon Simeon
and the trunk? The train, a procession of lights, could be seen in the
distance under the black sky.
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