myself more secure, and, during that interval,
to my extreme horror, two or three
persons entered into the compartment, and by
the way in which they disposed of
themselves and their railway rugs, convinced me
that they were going to remain there. I
experienced for a few moments, a rotatory
motion, such as ensues from a carriage being
placed on a turn-table, and, in less than ten
minutes from my arrival at Paddington,
discovered myself to be flying back to Swindon.
It was dark when I arrived at the station,
and escaped in safety; darker when I
reached my hated school; darkest of all, was
the fate that there awaited me, in
aggravation of my fruitless expedition. Days
passed before I was in a condition to have
sat in a railway-carriage with comfort, even
if I had had the chance; but years will
elapse before I forget that return journey
of mine, gratis, under the seat."

We looked towards the young lady for a
concluding tale of the train, and that
Scheherezade of our compartment, without the
least pretence of incapacity or hoarseness,
communicated at once the following
adventure:—

"Although," she commenced, "I am often
compelled to travel without a companion,"
(the commercial traveller sighed) "yet have
I such a dislike to the company of babies and
sick folk, that I never make a journey in the
ladies' carriage. Only once, however, have I
suffered any inconvenience through my
unprotected condition, and that exception
occurred very lately, and upon this very line.
After I had taken my seat one morning at
Paddington, in an empty carriage, I was
joined, just as the train was moving off, by
a strange-looking young man, with remarkably
long flowing hair. He was, of course,
a little hurried, but he seemed besides to
be so disturbed and wild that I was quite
alarmed, for fear of his not being in his right
mind, nor did his subsequent conduct at all
reassure me. Our train was an express, and
he inquired eagerly, at once, which was the
first station whereat we were advertised to
stop. I consulted my Bradshaw and furnished
him with the required information. It was
Reading. The young man looked at his watch.

"'Madam,' said he, 'I have but half an
hour between me and, it may be, ruin.
Excuse, therefore, my abruptness. You have,
I perceive, a pair of scissors in your workbag.
Oblige me, if you please, by cutting off all my
hair.'

"'Sir,' said I, 'it is impossible.'

"'Madam,' he urged, and a look of severe
determination crossed his features; 'I am a
desperate man. Beware how you refuse me
what I ask. Cut my hair off—short, close to
the roots—immediately; and here is a
newspaper to hold the ambrosial curls.'

"I thought he was mad, of course; and
believing that it would be dangerous to
thwart him, I cut off all his hair to the last
lock."

"'Now, madam,' said he, unlocking a small
portmanteau, 'you will further oblige me by
looking out of window, as I am about to
change my clothes.'

"Of course I looked out of window for
a very considerable time, and when he
observed, 'Madam, I need no longer put you
to any inconvenience,' I did not recognise
the young man in the least.

"Instead of his former rather gay costume,
he was attired in black, and wore a grey wig
and silver spectacles; he looked like a
respectable divine of the Church of England,
of about sixty-four years of age; to
complete that character, he held a volume of
sermons in his hand, which—they appeared
so to absorb him—might have been his
own.

"'I do not wish to threaten you, young
lady,' he resumed, 'and I think, besides, that
I can trust your kind face. Will you
promise me not to reveal this metamorphosis
until your journey's end?'

"'I will,' said I, 'most certainly.'

"At Reading, the guard and a person in
plain clothes looked into our carriage.

"'You have the ticket, my love,' said the
young man, blandly, and looking to me as
though he were my father.

"'Never mind, sir; we don't want them,'
said the official, as he withdrew his
companion.

"'I shall now leave you, madam,' observed
my fellow-traveller, as soon as the coast was
clear; 'by your kind and courageous conduct
you have saved my life and, perhaps, even
your own.'

"In another minute he was gone, and the
train was in motion. Not till the next morning
did I learn from the Times newspaper that
the gentleman on whom I had operated as
hair-cutter had committed a forgery to an
enormous amount, in London, a few hours
before I met him, and that he had been
tracked into the express-train from Paddington;
but that—although the telegraph had
been put in motion and described him
accurately—at Reading, when the train was
searched, he was nowhere to be found."

Also ready, price Five Shillings and Sixpence, neatly
bound in cloth,
THE SIXTEENTH VOLUME
HOUSEHOLD WORDS,
Containing the Numbers issued between the Fourth of
July and the Twelfth of December, Eighteen Hundred
and Fifty-Seven.