The Westbound Train

"The Westbound Train"
Short story by Willa Cather
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Short story
Publication
Published in	Capital City Courier
Publication type	Newspaper
Publication date	September 1899

"The Westbound Train" is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in Courier in September 1899.

Plot summary

Mrs Johnston stops at Cheyenne, Wyoming train station to collect a ticket for her next train to San Francisco. She has come all the way from New York City to join her husband, a railroad official. However, the Station Agent claims he has already given her ticket to a Mrs Johnston, with confirmation by telegram from Mr Johnston, and that she might write her a note. The other woman's reply says that her name is actually Johnson (without a 't') and that Mr Johnston is coming to pick her up at Cheyenne so they can travel to San Francisco together. Infuriated, Sybil decides to take a train back to New York City; she thinks her husband has been cheating on her, and that this is the ultimate insult. However, she is met by her husband and he explains Sally is a friend whom she had met at a wedding sometime later. The couple make up and meet the other woman.

Characters

• Reginald Johnston, 'a railroad official'.
• Sybil Johnston, Reginald's wife. Her maiden name is Ingrahame.
• Station Agent
• Messenger Boy
• Mrs Sally Johnson. Her maiden name is Toppinger. Her husband died on a boat excursion. She is blond and blue-eyed; Syvil deems her 'common'.
• Margaret Villers
• Alberta Frick
• Cicely Fanshawe
• Marchesi

References to other works

• Sybil fancies Sally and her husband to gossip about her as characters in novels by Honoré de Balzac do.

References to actual history

• Sybil dismisses Sally's letter as Volapük, a trendy language at the time.

External links

• Full Text at the Willa Cather Archive