swept with blinding power up the now mostly deserted thoroughfare. The
Davenports were glad of the shelter of the carriage which carried them
swiftly along the icy pavement. Mrs. Davenport drew her furs around
her, while the children snuggled together.

"I'm glad we're going, aren't you, Marian?" asked Beth, as they
descended from the carriage at the station.

"I guess so," answered Marian doubtfully, remembering the friends she
was leaving behind, perhaps forever.

Mr. Davenport already had their tickets, and the family immediately
boarded a sleeper bound for Jacksonville.

Beth loved to travel, and soon was on speaking terms with every one on
the car. She hesitated slightly about being friends with the porter.
He made her think of the first colored person she had ever seen. She
remembered even now how the man's rolling black eyes had frightened
her, although it was the blackness of his skin that had impressed her
the most. She believed that he had become dirty, the way she sometimes
did, only in a greater degree.

"Mamma," she whispered, "I never get as black as that man, do I? Do
you s'pose he ever washes himself?"

Mrs. Davenport explained that cleanliness had nothing to do with the
man's blackness.

"Is he black inside?" Beth questioned in great awe.