, 1904-02-10
THE LOAN Of NICKEL
tOriginal.]

II llOliCy Il COlluuClOI WAS tOll-
Ing, blinking his puncher as he came.
l took a nickel out of my vest pocket; a
lady who sat next to me opened a hand
satchel, but, not finding what she ex-
pected, was evidently much distressed.
Nearer came the puncher and more dis
turbed appeared the lady.
"Fare,' said the conductor.
Il handed him 10 cents. Surprising
that | was paying for the lady beside
me, he punched twice and passed on.
Twill you kindly give me your adj
dress?' asked the lady. Il wish to re-
turn your loan.'
what loan?" | asked.
You paid my fare"
Rather say the conductor made a
mistake"
Your address, please
took out my card with my address
engraved upon it and handed it to her.
The next day a messenger brought
me an envelope containing a nickel.
A couple of weeks later | received by
mail a ticket marked Complimentary
" I'll a. NbAtiA SiN'h III
charity. | was puzzled. Such tickets
are not usually complimentary. Be
sides, | was abundantly able to pay.
Curious to learn more of the matter, |
attended the show, which was given in
a small theater. Ny seat was one of
the best in the house, right in among
the creme de la creme. Beside me sat
N 1oHv uIa 1ooI-o1 NJ mo nc - .1,o
wondered how |, not in the swim-I
was a newcomer to the city-could
have got into that part of the house. |
looked over the audience with a lor-
gnette, but saw no one | had ever seen
before. When the performance was
over l left the theater no wiser than
when | entered it.
On reaching my rooms | put my
gloves in my overcoat pocket and felt
a small parcel. U%nwrapping it, | open
ed a little %pasteboard box and took out
a scarf pin of a unique design. There
was nothing to identify it, and | con-
cluded it must have been placed there
by mistake when my coat was hanging
In some public place. After that |
thought nothing of either mystery,
though | longed for one glimpse of the
woman | had loaned a nickel.
Two years later | was travelling in
a railway carriage in England, and.
though it was early in the afternoon,
l fell asleep. When l awoke l noticed
that there had been a change in the
occupancy Of the compartment. Be
fore me sat a lady, and the moment |
looked at her | saw that she was the
woman whose street car fare | had
paid. Her eyes were bent ON a book,
and she gave no sign of being aware
of the presence of II she had met be-
fore. Since she was not looking at me,
| had plenty of opportunity to look at
her.
Now, l defy any one to be looked at
by one in whom he or she is interested
and not betray consciousness of the
fact. 1t seemed to me that the lady
was reading very rapidly. l waited
to see how she would act when her
glance fell upon me. She did not seem
inclined to put down the book and
when she did so took pains to avoid
seeing me. My diagnosis of her ac-
tons was that she had recognized me,
but did not wish to give me a chance
to open an acquaintance. Then the
guard put his head in and said:
"Tickets!'
Here was a pretty chance for re-
yenge. I fumbled in my pocket for a
ticket which | purposely failed to find,
watching the lady's expression as did
so. She showed no especial interest in
my discontinue, but turned and whis-
pered something to an elderly man, her
father, beside her.
"What? U'm! Can l be of any as
sistance to you, sir?"
81 am sorry to trouble you, but my
funds are all in letters of credit and
Permit me, sir" And, taking out
his pocketbook, he asked, ITO what
point?"
81 I'M travelling for pleasure, and it
doesn't matter. 1 shall stop where you
stop, draw money, and her | will not
Inconvenience myself by having to
send you the amount of your loan"
"As you wish, SIR Then to the con-
ductor, ''Ticket to Edinburgh, please"
and my fare was paid.
l proposed TO keep in touch with the
travellers till 1 could learn more about
the lady, who gave no evidence what
ever of seeing anything in the incident
to point to a former incident. l ex-
changed cards with her father with
thanks.
On the evening of my arrival at Ed
inburgh l called on my benefactor to
return my loan. He had gone out, but
his daughter responded to my card.
AS she entered the room l saw her
cast a quick glance at the pin wore in
my scarf, then look away in evident
fear that l had noticed her interest in
it. The pin was the one l had found
in my own coat pocket after the chart
ty entertainment at the theater. A