Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1910-01-21
THE MAN THAT
CHANGED THE BILL
BY A. D. HARRISON.
copyright, 1903. by American Press Asso-
ciation.l

IHOTt lUlDItSSlOn6 ud0t III lIdNCilnks 4
think, thar under any other circum-
ances. She was about twenty, with
light, fluffy hair, baby blue eyes. white
teeth, and there was neither too much
nor too little of her. She sat looking
out of the window with rather a bored
expression on her face. as though she
longed for something with which to
occupy her mind. l longed to occupy
her mind myself.
However. my opportunity came when
a candy boy came along. She wanted
a box of sweets and had only a dol
lar bill to pay for them. 1t happened
that the boy was out OF change and
looked around for help. l lifted my
hat politely to the girl. took a dollar in
silver from my pocket and handed it
to her. taking In exchange the bill. 1t
was new and crisp and SO folded as to
show the dollar In a corner. Even Ii l
had not seen its denomination l would
not have thrown a doubt upon the
lady's honesty by unfolding it. 1
showed it In my vest pocket. and she
opened the box. | remained where l
was, so that she couldn't very well
help rewarding me for changing her
bill by Offering me a bit of candy. She
did this with some embarrassment. l
sat on the arm of the seat opposite
while / thanked her and said some IT.
relevant things, such as the car vas
either too hot or too cold. or | hated or
liked travelling. or made some other
meaningless remark. passing on to an
other and another. all the while look
ing more and more uncomfortable on
my perch. till at last she cast her eyes
on the vacant seat beside me. Con-
STRUNG this as an invitation, / sat
down.
When the conductor came along /
noticed he punched a Cleveland ticket
for her. l was bound for Chicago.
She had q suit case in the car with her,
on which were the letters e. v. w. /
took particular note of these things,
for | was delighted with her. and,
since often visited Cleveland. /
thought l might wish to continue to
fall in her path.
/ spent several hours very pleasant
ly with her. At first she seemed
abashed at forming al acquaintance
In this way, but she soon forgot all
about that, and l saw that | was as
companionable to her as she was 10
me. When we reached Cleveland ]
offered to hand her out of the car, but
she said her brother would be there to
meet her, and I saw by a look she gave
me that she would not care to have
him see her receiving attentions from
a stranger. l therefore contented my.
self with thanking her for rendering
my trip enjoyable instead Of a bore
and told her l hoped that II she ever
came to Chicago / might happen to
meet her.
The next Sunday morning-1 got
home on Wednesday, left my bach
elor quarters and strolled to my club
for breakfast. buying a paper by the
way. / always read everything In my
Sunday paper, and on this occasion
wound up with the personals" Sud
denly / was seized with astonishment
as l read:
The gentleman who changed a bill for a
lady on a train on the 10th can
cate with her by addressing Il. V. W.
Box =, Cleveland, o.
| was not only astonished; l was
disappointed. Since my return my
brain had been full of love stories OF
which e. v. w. was the heroine and ]
the hero. And, after all, | had struck
one who was not above calling me ia
her through a personal. Then 1t came
to me that there must be some mis-.
take. Surely / knew a lady when ]
saw one, and the girl | had met was
not only a lady, but a very innocent
and refined one. Why did she make
the Identification through the lola
bill | had changed? Because, of course,
1t was the best and only sure means OF
Identification.
This dollar bill was all l had to re-
mind me of the girl who had given II
to me. l had transferred 1t from my
pocket to a box of trinkets on my
dresser. folded just as it was when ]
received 1t. Something, l know moi
what-one of those mysterious point.
ers of the brain perhaps that come to
us on occasion-prompted me to go tt
my room and have a look at the bill
1 lost no time in doing so, and when ]
unfolded the crisp bit of paper my
eyes bulged from their sockets In as
constituent.
1t was a thousand dollar note!
Now l saw it all. The wording OF
the advertisement. instead of indicat.
ing that the girl was familiar with
methods of designation, showed her In
nocence or she would not have used
it. 1t was evident she had inferred
that l had discovered the denomina-
ton of the bill, and she gave me the
means of communicating with her to
return it.
/ took the midnight train for Cleve-
land and the next morning went to
the postoffice. where l learned that
box No. = belonged to a family named
Worthington. Later in the day l call.