For the first time in many a day his mind was not filled and boiling over with his trouble.

Marie and all the bitterness she had come to mean to him receded into the misty background of his mind and hovered there, an indistinct memory of something painful in his life.
A street car slipped past, bobbing down the track like a duck sailing over ripples.

A local train clanged down to the depot and stood jangling its bell while it disgorged passengers for the last boat to the City whose wall of stars was hidden behind the drizzle and the clinging fog.
People came straggling down the sidewalk--not many, for few had business with the front end of the waiting trains.

Bud pushed the throttle up a little.

His fingers dropped down to the gear lever, his foot snuggled against the clutch pedal.
Feet came hurrying.