He walked nervously up and down the platform, and wished
frequently that it were not so early in the morning, so that some of
the boys might be there to see him off. Finally, the great hissing
locomotive drew up, with its long train of coaches, and Archie was
soon aboard, hurrying off to Heddens Corner and the city. In a few
minutes Uncle Henry was with him, a tall, fine-looking man, with an
air of business. Uncle Henry kept the general store at the Corner, and
was an important person in the neighbourhood. He was of some
importance in the city, too, for his name was known in politics, and
his custom was always desired at the wholesale stores. So Archie was
going to see the city under good auspices, if his uncle would only
have time to take him about with him.
After a couple of hours, during which Archie kept his face glued to
the window-pane, watching the flying landscape, the great train pulled
through a long, dark tunnel, and finally entered an immense shed,
covered with glass where it came to a final stop. Crowds left the
coaches, and passed out of the station, where they were swallowed up
in the great rush of traffic. Some drove away in cabs and carriages.
Some entered the street-cars, and some went up a stairway and entered
what seemed to Archie a railway train in the air.
Uncle Henry told Archie to follow him carefully, and they, too, were
soon flying away from the neighbourhood of the terminal, past hotels,
stores, and dwellings, until they finally left the trolley-car, and
passed through a cross street into a long, quiet thoroughfare which
looked old enough to have been there for a hundred years.
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