[See p. 5

“‘GOOD HEAVENS!’ HE SAID. ‘WHERE’S MY SISTER?’”

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A YOUNG MAN IN
A HURRY

AND OTHER SHORT STORIES


By

ROBERT W. CHAMBERS

AUTHOR OF “THE MAIDS OF PARADISE” “CARDIGAN” “THE MAID-AT-ARMS” “THE
KING IN YELLOW” ETC


ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
1904

Copyright, 1904, by Robert W. Chambers.

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All rights reserved.

Published October, 1904.

TO
MARGERY

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ILLUSTRATIONS

“‘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

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CONTENTS

PAGE
A Young Man in a Hurry	3
A Pilgrim	23
The Shining Band	51
One Man in a Million	95
The Fire-Warden	123
The Market-Hunter	171
The Path-Master	197
In Nauvoo	223
Marlitt’s Shoes	241
Pasque Florida	263

A YOUNG MAN IN A HURRY

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