Free press., 1908-01-18
ACCOUNT
SETuEDInF FULL

/ H0As'
1t was ten-dollra bill, framed and
glazed, hanging on the wall OF the Of
fice.
In memory OF an honest debtor"
| replied the Disconnected Man.
| Are they so rare, then?" she
asked.
! Very. And then the circumstances
! Of that payment were unusual. We
| had tenant "a little chorus girl, who
| lived in a little room in one Of our
| buildings She was out of work. Had
been i'll. Hard up and behind With
her rent Lord only knows how she
lived. Mostly on pickles, tea and
breakfast food cooked over gas jet
Poor little ballroom girl. But she was
honest, and whenever she earned
anything she paid dollar or two OF
| her rent and struggled along, eklng
out her pennies with all the dodees
| girls know. washing handkerchiefa
and sticking them on the window
panes instead OF ironing, doing up lace
collars by rolling them round curl
ing iron and
'It SENS to me-" said the Little
Lady, that you know too much"
Il beg your pardon"
Nothing. Go on
"At last she got an engagement to
go on the road, and she vas as happy
as the queen OF Tarsacon. She owes
us SO and some little scores to other
| people, and before she left she called
on each one and told them she would
pay as soon as she received her sal
ary.
II told her All right; no hurry, and
so she passed on after the fashion Of
tenants.
1T was December 80 of that year,
in the afternoon, and l was alone and
working on some accounts, when /
felt a sort of cold draft, and I raised
my head to see who was coming in,
thinking the door had been opened,
and bescide my desk stood Miss Patsy
Vane. She had come in SO softly that
hadn't heard her.
why, how are YOU? | said. When
did you get back? Have you left the
company
:"She sat down before answering
The show has closed she said. I
Just got back aAld want TO pay my
debt And she opened her little pock-
etbOok and took out a ten-dollar bill
and handed it to me. AS l took it
noticed that she had a big red mark
across her fingers. and as l wrote a
receipt I asked, What's the matter
with your hand?'
- I burnt it, said she.
'I gave her the receipt and she fold
ed 1t and put it in her pocketbook and
stood up. Thank you SO much for
waiting. she said, you have been aw-
fully kind to me. Good-by' She hesi-
tatsd moment and then extended
her hand and I took it. Her fingers
were very cold.
'Good-by,' I said, and I walked to
the door with her, opened it for her,
and SO she went away In short
time some Of the other fellows came
in, and / laid aside my accounts and
went out, and as l got out in the street
the newsboys were barking about the
Iroquois theater fire. Good luck that
| Patsy got out before thought
| Why, she said the show had clOsed?'
! and / bought a paper and saw that the
Bluebeard company was playing there
at the time of the fire.
| STILL I thought she had left the
| company until in next days papers
! saw that among the lost was Patsy
! Vane, and then l knew that In broad
day ] had sen and talked with her
! spirit, just released. I might have
| thought l had dozed and dreamed, but
| in the cash drawer of the safe was
the ten-dollar bill, just like any other
/ hill nXnQnf that NI1H
when the members of the COM
! pany struggled back to New York
! saw Batsy'S chum. Oh she said.
Poor, poor Patsy. Sse was SO glad To
get to work and saved to pay what
/ she owed in New York, and that after
noon she told me ase had all paid but
ten dollars rent, and she had just got
that and would sent it next day When
the fire came we started out together.
and she would have got out, only she
said: L forgot my pocketbook," and
she ran back for it and never got
out
$50 I kept that bin and had it
framed as a souvenir OF remarkable
experience"
do you expect me Co believe that -
asked the Little Lady.
NO, eoolly said the Disseminated
Man, but just the same it's true, and
she paid it to me sitting right in that
! chair you're sitting in now
! The Little Lady got up hastily and
moved to another chair.
Il did not think you were the kind
of man to have such fancies,' she
said.
Il didn't think so myself said the
!, Discontinued Man, but it seems that