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CUPID EN ROUTE

at the group farther along told him that boredom held them fast. Outside Wade found that the train was standing a hundred feet north of the little station. It was good to get out into the air even if the flakes came thick enough to blind one, and for a time he strolled back and forth along the short length of platform. Then he returned to his car, and as he paused in the vestibule to shake the snow, the girl and her brother came out and went by him down the steps. The girl had put on her fur coat and a little rowdyish felt hat whose down-turned rim almost hid her face from sight. She cast a fleeting glance as she went by and the boy smiled understandingly at his new acquaintance. Wade routed a book from his bag and settled himself again in the smoking-room, wishing the while that he had delayed his outing until now. A half-hour passed quietly. Once or twice the door at the other end of the car opened and shut. The conductor passed the smoking-room once and a ruddy-faced man whom

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