she had planned and toward which she was working with all her powers, she said calmly to herself that it was more attractive to her than any other.  And yet, would she be tempted to give up her ambitions and hopes of achievement if, for instance, she were to meet a man as well endowed in mind and heart as the hero of the book she had just been reading,—­with such fineness of fibre and such power of loving?  She would not face the question squarely, but told herself that she was not at all likely to meet such a paragon.

“And, at any rate,” she thought, as she was roused from her reverie by the cry of “Dinner now ready in the dining-car,” “of one thing I am very sure, and that is that I shall never marry until I meet a man strong enough in himself and in his love for me to make me forget everything else and not care whether or not I go on with my profession.”

The dining-car was so full that she was about to turn back, when the waiter beckoned her to a table at which the two forward seats were unoccupied.  She took one with some hesitation and turned her face toward the window.

“I beg your pardon,” said a voice from the other side of the table, “but if you find it disagreeable to ride backward won’t you take my seat?  I do not mind it in the least.”

She turned with a smiling and grateful refusal upon her tongue, saw that her two neighbors across the table were the men from the section in front of hers, and hesitated.  The other man quickly added his plea to his companion’s, and in a few moments they had changed seats.  The one who had first spoken asked if her friends in Philadelphia got safely off the car, and presently all three were chatting pleasantly together.

When Elizabeth returned to the Pullman the one who had proposed exchanging seats, and whom his friend called Adams, brought her some evening papers.  She thanked him, and, seeing that he did not at once turn away, asked him to sit down.  They talked about the news in the papers, laughed over stories which one or the other told, branched off upon books, and were pleased to find that they had some favorites in common.  They spoke of the scenery through which they had passed during the day and of the brilliant sunset into which the train seemed to be plunging, and he told her of the gorgeous sunset panoramas of the Rocky Mountains and of striking effects he had seen among the snow-clad peaks of the Sierras.  He related adventures into which his profession, that of mining engineer, had taken him; and Elizabeth listened with interest, asked questions, made comments, and talked entertainingly, but said nothing of her own walk in life.  When finally he said good-night and went to rejoin his companion in the smoker, the evening was so far gone that the busy porter had transformed the car into a lane of tapestry.