Anxious to accomplish this sacred mission Beryl took the faded blossoms from her basket, added a cluster of chrysanthemums, a frond of fern from the “branch” border, and hurried on to the cemetery.  When she reached the entrance, the gate was locked, but unwilling to return without having gratified her mother’s wish, she climbed into a spreading cedar close by the low brick wall, and swung herself easily down inside the enclosure.

Some time was lost in finding the Darrington lot, but at last she stood before a tall iron railing, that bristled with lance-like points, between the dust, of her ancestors and herself.  In one corner rose a beautiful monument, bearing on its front, in gilt letters, the inscription “Helena Tracy, wife of R. L. Darrington.”

Thrusting her hand through a space in the railing, Beryl dropped her mother’s withered Arkja tribute on the marble slab.  Her dress was caught by a sharp point of iron, and while endeavoring to disengage it, she heard the shrill whistle of the R. R. engine.  Tearing the skirt away, she ran to the wall, climbed over, after some delay, and finding herself once more in the open road, darted on as fast as possible through the dusk, heedless of appearances, fearful only of missing the train.  How the houses multiplied, and what interminable lengths the squares seemed, as she neared the brick warehouse and office of the station!  The lamps at the street corners beckoned her on, and when panting for breath she rushed around the side of the tall building that fronted the railway, there was no train in sight.

Two or three coal cars stood on a siding, near a detached engine, where one man was lighting the lamp before the reflector of the headlight, and another, who whistled merrily, burnished the brass and copper platings.  In the door of the ticket office the agent lounged, puffed his cigar, and fanned himself with his hat.

“What time is it?” cried Beryl.

“Seven-forty-five.”

“Oh! do not tell me I have missed the train.”

“You certainly have.  I told you it left at 7:15 sharp.  It was ten minutes behind time on account of hot boxes, but rolled out just twenty minutes ago.  Did you get lost hunting ‘Elm Bluff,’ and miss your train on that account?”

“No, I had no difficulty in finding the place, but having no watch, I was forced to guess at the time.  Only twenty minutes too late!”

“Did you see the old war-horse?”

Beryl did not answer, and after a moment the agent added: 

“That is Gen’l Darrington’s nick-name all over this section.”

“When will the next train leave here?”

“Not until 3:05 A.M.”

Beryl sat down on the edge of a baggage truck, and pondered the situation.  She knew that her mother, who had carefully studied the railway schedule, was with feverish anxiety expecting her return by the train, now many miles away; and she feared that any unexplained detention would have an injurious effect on the sick woman’s shattered nerves.