Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Amanda Flower

Author:Amanda Flower [Flower, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

As long as we were on the train, Emily and I agreed to stay away from Mr. Johnson. There was too great a risk of Matthew seeing what we were up to. If he told Emily’s father, we would surely be sent on the next train home to Amherst.

After dinner, the Dickinson sisters and I were sitting in our cabin when there was a knock on the door. “Turndown service.”

Miss Lavinia stretched and yawned. “Finally, I am ready to go to sleep. Travel is exhausting.”

“Like she hasn’t been napping on the train most of the afternoon,” Emily whispered to me.

I looked out the window so no one could see my smile.

“Come in!” Emily called.

A young porter dressed all in white stood in the doorway. “Good evening, Miss Dickinson and Miss Dickinson.” He merely nodded at me. “If you wouldn’t mind stepping out of the cabin for just a moment, I will turn down your bed.”

I looked around the cabin. Bed? What bed? There wasn’t any more space in the cabin for a chair much less a bed.

Emily and Miss Lavinia didn’t seem nearly as perplexed as I did and stepped out of the cabin, where Emily said, “Come, Vinnie, let us wash up while the porter does his work. Willa can stay here and tip him when he is done.” She tucked two coins in my hand before she and Miss Lavinia walked down the corridor toward the washroom.

Through the doorway, I watched in amazement as the porter removed the cushions from the seats where we’d just been sitting. He then released latches that I had not noticed on the wall behind where Emily and I had sat. He pulled down a small bed complete with a thin mattress, linens, and even a pillow. He then tucked the seat cushions into the empty compartment.

He ended the turndown service by fluffing the pillow and setting two pieces of candy on the pillow.

He smiled at me as he left the room. “The world is quite amazing, isn’t it?”

I nodded dumbly and handed him the coins Emily had given me, and he handed me a piece of candy in return before he went on to the next room.

In the middle of the night, I got up from the blanket where I slept on the floor. Emily and Miss Lavinia were sleeping soundly in their pull-down bed on the wall. With care, I opened the compartment door and slipped out. I had my coat wrapped tightly around myself. My plan was to run to the privy and back as quickly as possible.

I made it to the bathroom without incident and almost made it to our compartment when a familiar voice whispered my name.

I looked over my shoulder to see Matthew peering out of the second-class car. He wore a white shirt, trousers, and no stockings or shoes on his feet. I was acutely aware of my hair being down over my shoulders and my night dress sticking out from under my coat.

“Matthew, go back to sleep.

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