glanced out the window at the hills still mottled with snow He leaned back and closed his eyes again Soon he heard passengers whispering Is it really him Of course it is can't you tell He was born in North Haven you know I read it in the paper It's funny somebody so important should be traveling alone don't you think Well you know what they say all great people are lonely deep down Don't you think there's something lonely about his face In a minute Terpin heard a throat cleared and reopened his eyes which silenced all the whis pering around him The elderly conductor was standing over him again cap in hand a sheepish look on his face Excuse me Your Honor sir but I thought maybe you'd give me your autograph for my missus She'd be tickled pink Terpin took the man's piece of paper and the conductor mur mured Lands this is the most excitement we've had on the line since well since the tragedy on the North Trestle thirty odd years ago On the piece of paper Terpin wrote To my old
friend George who once let me ride without a ticket and his wife with best wishes Terpin Taft Lands the conductor said reading the inscription You mean to say you've ridden this train before Your Honor And I let you ride for free Indeed he had ridden this train before dozens of times But that was long before he was Your Honor long before there was anything lonely about his face Now Terpin was on his way back to his hometown to be honored now he was a great man But why dwell on his great ness As an ancient Greek philosopher said Being is nothing becoming is everything Thirty odd years ago Terpin who was then a schoolboy with a clean face and slightly moppish brown hair was riding this same train home to North Haven after a dutiful Thanksgiving visit to his grandmother downstate It had not been a very entertaining visit His grandmother was can tankerous and deaf the turkey had been cooked three hours too long and the bed in her guest
room creaked if he so much as wiggled a toe But he had said or rather shouted into his grand mother's hearing aid that the turkey was deli cious and that morning he'd assured her that he'd slept like a top For he was as his schoolmates said a good egg On this day long ago a man in a black great coat boarded the train a few stops before North Haven and sat down beside him The train had not pulled out of the station before the man heaved a deep sigh At the fourth or fifth sigh Terpin had to glance at him The man was large and had a strong rugged face like that of a retired athlete and for some reason this made the tear running down the man's cheek fill Terpin with compassion Excuse me sir Terpin said Would you like me to go to the club car and get you a cup of tea The man merely shook his head so Terpin turned and looked out the window at the hills which were blanketed with the first snow of the year But after a minute the man heaved another sigh
Is there anything the matter sir Terpin asked Oh well the man said wiping his cheek with the sleeve of his black greatcoat it's just my wife Your wife The man nodded I lost her yesterday How did you lose her sir In an operation What operation was that The man glanced at him You wouldn't have heard of it son I might have said Terpin who was consid ered one of the brightest in his class Well the man sighed it was an operation called a hepaticostomy After a moment Terpin said Oh It was unsuccessful The man nodded grimly and another tear rolled down a groove in his rugged cheek Take it from me boy he murmured life's a rotten business
