Located in the checkroom in Union Station as I am, I see everybody that comes up the stairs.

Harry came in a little over three years ago and waited at the head of the stairs for the passengers from the 9:05 train.

I remember seeing Harry that first evening. He wasn't much more than a thin, anxious kid then. He was all dressed up and I knew he was meeting his girl and that they would be married twenty minutes after she arrived.

Well, the passengers came up and I had to get busy. I didn't look toward the stairs again until nearly time for the 9:18 and I was very surprised to see that the young fellow was still there.

She didn't come on the 9:18 either, nor on the 9:40, and when the passengers from the 10:02 had all arrived and left, Harry was looking pretty desperate. Pretty soon he came close to my window so I called out and asked him what she looked like.

"She's small and dark," he said, "and nineteen years old and very neat in the way she walks. She has a face," he said, thinking a minute,"that has lots of spirit. I mean she can get mad but she never stays mad for long, and her eyebrows come to a little point in the middle. She's got a brown fur, but maybe she isn't wearing it."

I couldn't remember seeing anybody like that.

He showed me the telegram he'd received: ARRIVE THURSDAY. MEET ME STATION. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. MAY. It was from Omaha, Nebraska.

"Well," I finally said, "why don't you phone to your home? She's probably called there if she got in ahead of you."

He gave me a sick look. "I've only been in town two days. We were going to meet and then drive down South where I've got a job. She hasn't any address for me." He touched the telegram.

When I came on duty the next day he was still there and came over as soon as he saw me.

"Did she work anywhere?" I asked.

He nodded. "She was a typist. I telegraphed her former boss. All they know is that she left her job to get married."

Harry met every train for the next three or four days. Of course, the railroad lines made a routinecheckup and the police looked into the case. But nobody was any real help. I could see that they all figured that May had simply played a trick on him. But I never believed that, somehow.

One day, after about two weeks, Harry and I were talking and I told him about my theory. "If you'll just wait long enough," I said, "you'll see her coming up those stairs some day." He turned and looked at the stairs as though he had never seen them before.

The next day when I came to work Harry was behind the counter of Tony's magazine stand. He looked at me rather sheepishly and said, "Well, I had to get a job somewhere, didn't I ?"

So he began to work as a clerk for Tony. We never spoke of May anymore and neither of us ever mentioned my theory. But I noticed that Harry always saw every person who came up the stairs.

Toward the end of the year Tony was killed in some argument over gambling, and Tony's widow left Harry in complete charge of the magazine stand. And when she got married again some time later, Harry bought the stand from her. He borrowed money and installed a soda fountain and pretty soon he had a very nice little business.

Then came yesterday. I heard a cry and a lot of things falling. The cry was from Harry and the things falling were a lot of dolls and other things which he had upset while he was jumping over the counter. He ran across and grabbed a girl not ten feet from my window. She was small and dark and her eyebrows came to a little point in the middle.

For a while they just hung there to each other laughing and crying and saying things without meaning. She'd say a few words like, "It was the bus station I meant..." and he'd kiss her speechless and tell her the many things he had done to find her. What apparently had happened three years before was that May had come by bus, not by train, and in her telegram she meant "bus station", not "railroad station". She had waited at the bus station for days and had spent all her money trying to find Harry. Finally she got a job typing.

"What?" said Harry. "Have you been working in town? All the time?"

She nodded.

"Well, heavens. Didn't you ever come down here to the station?" He pointed across to his magazine stand. "I've been there all the time. I own it. I've watched everybody that came up the stairs."

She began to look a little pale. Pretty soon she looked over at the stairs and said in a weak voice, "I never came up the stairs before. You see, I went out of town yesterday on a short business trip. Oh, Harry!" Then she threw her arms around his neck and really began to cry.

After a minute she backed away and pointed very stiffly toward the north end of the station. "Harry, for three years, for three solid years, I've been right over there working right in this very station, typing, in the office of the stationmaster."

我在聯(lián)合車(chē)站的行李寄存處工作，由于工作地點(diǎn)的關(guān)系，可以看見(jiàn)走過(guò)樓梯的每一個(gè)人。

3年前哈里曾來(lái)過(guò)這兒，站在樓梯口接乘坐9點(diǎn)05分到站的旅客。

我依然記得第一晚見(jiàn)到他時(shí)的情景。他那時(shí)身材瘦削，神情憂(yōu)郁，像個(gè)孩子似的。他穿戴整齊，我知道他是在等他的女友，并且在她到后20分鐘，他們將舉行婚禮。

哦，旅客們來(lái)了，我得去忙了。直到9點(diǎn)18分我才又有時(shí)間往樓梯那邊看，令我吃驚的是那年輕人還在那兒。

她既沒(méi)乘9點(diǎn)18分的車(chē)，也沒(méi)乘9點(diǎn)40分的車(chē)到。等10點(diǎn)02分的那次車(chē)的旅客都出站后，哈里看起來(lái)很失望。不一會(huì)兒，他走近我的窗口，我招呼他，問(wèn)他，她長(zhǎng)什么樣。

“她矮小的個(gè)子，黝黑的皮膚，”他說(shuō)，“19歲。走起路來(lái)干脆利落。她的臉嘛，”他想了一會(huì)說(shuō)，“蘊(yùn)含著豐富的表情，我是說(shuō)她會(huì)生氣，但從不會(huì)持續(xù)太久。她眉心有顆小痣。她有件棕色毛皮大衣，但也有可能沒(méi)穿。”

我似乎沒(méi)見(jiàn)過(guò)這樣的人。

他拿出電報(bào)給我看：“周四到。車(chē)站接我。愛(ài)愛(ài)愛(ài)愛(ài)。——梅?！彪妶?bào)是從內(nèi)布拉斯加州的奧馬哈市發(fā)來(lái)的。

“噢，”最后，我說(shuō)，“你怎么不往家里打個(gè)電話(huà)?如果她比你先到這兒，她可能已經(jīng)給你家打電話(huà)了。”

他憂(yōu)郁地看著我，“我才來(lái)城里兩天。我們約定見(jiàn)面后開(kāi)車(chē)去南方，我工作的那個(gè)地方。她沒(méi)留任何地址給我?！彼麛[弄著電報(bào)。

我第二天去值班時(shí)，看到他還在那兒。他看見(jiàn)我就朝我走來(lái)。

“她在哪兒工作過(guò)呢?”我問(wèn)。

他點(diǎn)頭，說(shuō)道：“她原來(lái)是打字員。我給她原來(lái)的老板發(fā)過(guò)電報(bào)。他們只知道她辭職結(jié)婚去了?！?/p>

接下來(lái)的三四天，哈里接了每趟火車(chē)。當(dāng)然，鐵路方面也進(jìn)行了檢查，警察也介入了此事。但事實(shí)上誰(shuí)也沒(méi)能幫上他的忙?？吹贸鰜?lái)，他們都認(rèn)為梅只是和他開(kāi)了個(gè)玩笑，但不知為什么，我卻從不那么認(rèn)為。

大約兩周后的一天，與哈里聊天時(shí)，我把我的想法告訴了他，“如果你等了足夠長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間，”我說(shuō)，“總有一天，你會(huì)看到她從那邊樓梯處走來(lái)?！彼D(zhuǎn)過(guò)身望著樓梯，仿佛從未見(jiàn)過(guò)它。

第二天上班時(shí)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)哈里已站在托尼的雜志攤后面了。他有點(diǎn)兒羞怯地看著我說(shuō)，“哦，我得找份工作干，是吧?”

就這樣他給托尼賣(mài)起了雜志。我們沒(méi)再談梅，也不提我曾經(jīng)的那個(gè)想法。但是我發(fā)覺(jué)哈里還是愛(ài)看走過(guò)樓梯的每個(gè)人。

年底，托尼因賭博與別人發(fā)生爭(zhēng)執(zhí)而被殺。他的妻子將雜志攤完全交給哈里去打理。不久她再婚了，哈里就把雜志攤買(mǎi)了下來(lái)。他又借了些錢(qián)，裝了個(gè)冷飲機(jī)，不久小買(mǎi)賣(mài)就紅火起來(lái)。

直到昨天，哈里的生活才有了變化。當(dāng)時(shí)，我聽(tīng)見(jiàn)一陣喊聲，隨后是東西落地的聲音。是哈里在叫。他跳出柜臺(tái)，把柜臺(tái)上陳列的玩具和其他東西都掀翻在地，然后從這些東西上跑過(guò)去，抓住了一個(gè)離我窗戶(hù)不到10英尺遠(yuǎn)的女孩。她個(gè)子矮小，皮膚黝黑，眉心處有顆小痣。

他們對(duì)視了好一會(huì)兒，又哭又笑，語(yǔ)無(wú)倫次地說(shuō)著話(huà)。她好像說(shuō)，“我說(shuō)的是汽車(chē)站——，”而他則用熱吻蓋住了她的嘴，告訴她，在找她的過(guò)程中所發(fā)生的一切。顯然，梅3年前是坐汽車(chē)來(lái)的，而不是火車(chē)。她的電報(bào)里指的是“汽車(chē)站”而不是“火車(chē)站”。她在汽車(chē)站等了好幾天，為了找哈里，她把身上所有的錢(qián)都花光了。后來(lái)，她找了份打字員的工作。

“什么?”哈里說(shuō)，“你一直在城里工作?直到現(xiàn)在?”

她點(diǎn)了點(diǎn)頭。

“啊，天哪!難道你從沒(méi)來(lái)過(guò)這個(gè)車(chē)站嗎?”他用手指了指雜志攤?！拔乙恢倍荚谀莾?。那個(gè)攤兒是我的。我留意著每個(gè)走過(guò)樓梯的人?！?/p>

她的臉色變得蒼白。接著，她向樓梯望去，用微弱的聲音說(shuō)道：“我從沒(méi)走過(guò)這個(gè)樓梯。你看，昨天我出差了。哦，哈里!”然后她用手臂摟緊他的脖子，開(kāi)始哭了起來(lái)。

過(guò)了一會(huì)兒，她往后站了站，用手指著車(chē)站最北頭說(shuō)：“哈里，3年來(lái)，整整3年，我就在那兒——這個(gè)車(chē)站的站長(zhǎng)辦公室當(dāng)打字員?！?/p>