Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1904-03-04
IHE LOAN OF A NICKEL
[original.1

alens' uss evidently much distressed
Per came the puneher ana more us
s s,aned appeared the lady. !
Iu nTore@ said the conductor.
fI houded him 10 cents. supposlng
vas having for the lady beside
that ! n.hod twice and passed on.
ne, rv Won kindly give me your adj
,.ossq" asked the lady. i Wish TO re-
mrn your loan"
nWbot loan?" asked. \
4You paid my fare -
npotber say the conductor made
mistake" .,ooso.
took out my card with my address
.oyed upon it and handed 1t to her.
su Tho next day a messenger brought
envelope containing a nickel.
III. aar,la Of weeks later l received by
a. ticket marked complimentary"
n" amateur entertainment given for
.saritv. I was puzzled. Such tickets
s.o not usually complimentary. Be
"a. was abundantly able to pay.
"'..ious to learn more of the matter, l
N..onded the show, which was given in
small theater. My seat was one OF
sho hest in the house, right in among
tbe creme de la creme. Beside me sat
lady. who looked at me as II she
'.ondered how l, not in the swim-I
,ros newcomer to the city-could
have got into that part Of the house. l
,ootad over the audience with lor-
rnotte but saw no one l had ever seen
Sofore. When the performance was
aver | left the theater no wiser than
when | entered it.
On reaching my rooms l put my
gloves in my overcoat pocket and felt
small parcel Unwrapping 1t, open
Cd a little pasteboard box and took out
q scarf pin of unique design. There
was nothing to identify it, and l con-
rluded it must have been placed there
nv 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 l was travelling in
A railway carriage in England, and,
though it was early in the afternoon,
fell asleep. When l awoke / noticed
that there had been a change in the
occupancy of the compartment. Be-
fore me sat lady, and the moment
looked at her l saw that she was the
woman whose street car fare l had
paid. Her eyes were bent on a book,
and she gave no sign Of being aware
Of the presence of one she had met be-
fore. Since she was not looking at me,
had plenty of opportunity to look at
her,
Now, 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. 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 &C.
tons was that she had recognized me,
but did not wish to give me a chance
w OPSh Oil dSHudlDlduCC. 4hCh Tic
guard put his head In and said:
"Ticketsr'
Here was pretty chance for re-
venge. l fumbled in my pocket for a
ncket which | purpoSely failed to find,
watching the lady's expression as did
50. She showed no especial interest in
my discontinue. but turned and whis-
pered something to an elderly man, her
father, beside her.
What? Urn! Can be of any as
slstance to you. STRIP
i 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?"
am travelling for pleasure. and 1t
doesn't matter. l shall stop where you
slop' draw money, and then | 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.
proposed to keep in touch with the
travellers till could learn more about
Tue lady. who gave no evidence what
ever OF seeing anything in the incident
70 point to former incident. l ex-
changed cards with her father with
thanks.
on the evening of my arrival at Ed
inourgh called ON my benefactor to
return my loan. He had gone out, but
us daughter responded to my card.
AS she entered the room saw her
CAST quick glance at the pin wore in
NY SCARF, then look away in evident
rear that l had noticed her interest in
Inc pin was the one l had found
my own coat pocket after the chart
entertainment at the theater. A
sudden revelation flashed through my
orain' 1t had been put In my oyercoat
pocket by the lady who sat next to me
ate.
! am fortunate" 1 said, ''in the op-
portunity to thank you for delightful
evening several years ago at a theater
snu for the beautiful souvenir you