ing the midnight train into Chicago. Is that your train, young lady?" I replied that it was and he said, "Well, I guess we can both ride down in the same taxi." Inasmuch as I doubt whether Connersville boasted more than one, it was a wise suggestion! I was afraid the taxi man would surely hear Mr. Harding's whispered remarks to me on the way down, especially when he said over and over again, "Dearie, 'r y' going t' sleep with me? Look at me, Nan: goin' to sleep with me, dearie?" How I loved to hear him say "dearie"!
We secured a section to Chicago. The remembrance of that trip from Connersville to Chicago is very beautiful although it, too, was free from complete embraces. We were both dressed the next morning before we reached the Englewood Station, about nine minutes from the downtown station, and I remarked to Mr. Harding that he looked a bit tired.
"God, sweetheart! what do you expect? I'm a man, you know."
In Chicago, we went to a downtown hotel. Here Mr. Harding registered us as man and wife, although I stood apart and do not know the name he used. However, if I were to see that register as well as all of the others wherein we were registered, I am sure I could identify his writing, for he did not disguise it well no matter how hard he tried.
I noticed he was conversing with the clerk and when he joined me he said, in a low voice, on the way to the elevator, "The clerk said if I could prove that you were my wife he would give us the room for nothing!" I asked him laughingly what he had replied to that and he said, "I told him I was not in the habit of proving my wife's identity and that I had no objection at all to paying for accommodations!" Nevertheless, we were very circumspect while there that morning and our love-making was, as it had been up until then, restricted. We had breakfast served in our room. I remember that it was the first time that season I had had strawberries.
Mr. Harding took the noon train back—I think going direct to Washington.
