The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1910-12-29

Meantime he had proceeded slowly
on his way. Suddenly a benevolent,
white-bearded man halted him, with
a deprecating gesture. Excuse me,
sir" he began, but your hat"
Orme lifted his straw hat from his
head A glance showed him that it
was disfigured by a great blotch of
black grease. He had held his hat in
his hand while talking to the girl,
and it must have touched her car at
q point where the axle of the dray
had rubbed. So this was his one me-
mento of the incident.
He thanked the stranger, and walked
to a nearby hatter's, where a ready
clerk set before him hats of all styles.
He selected one quickly and left his
soiled hat to be cleaned and sent
home later.
Offering ten-dollar bill in payment,
he received in change a five-dollar bill
and a silver dollar. He gave the coin
a second glance. It was the nrst sill
yer dollar that he had handled for
some time, for ne seldom visited the
west.
There's no charge for the clean
ing" said the clerk, noting down
Orme's name and address, and hand
ing the soiled hat to the cash boy.
Orme, meantime, was on the point
of folding the five-dollar bill to put 1t
into his pocket book. Suddenly he
looked at it intently. Written in ink
across the face of 1t, were the words:
Remember Person You Pay This.To." "
The writing was apparently a hur-
ried scrawl, but the letters were large
and quite legible. They appeared to
have been written on an uneven sur
face, for there were several jogs and
breaks in the writing, as If the pen
had slipped.
This is curious" remarked Orme.
The clerk blinked his watery eyes
and looked at the bill in Orme's hand.
"Oh, yes, sir" he explained. 81 re-
member that. The gentleman who
paid it in this morning called our at
tention to it."
''lf he's the man who wrote this, he
probably doesn't know that there's a
law against defacing money"
But it's perfectly good, isn't it?'
inquired the clerk. IF you want an
other instead"
"Oh, no." laughed Orme. The
banks would take it."
But, sir" began the clerk.
u should like to keep it. If can't
get rid of it, I'll bring it back. It's a
hoax or an endless chain device or
something of the sort. I'd like to
find out"
He looked again at the writing.
Puzzles and problems always inter-
ested him, especially If they seemed
to involve some human story.
Very we'll" said the clerk, "Pll re-
member that you have it, Mr. -" he
peered at the name he had set down
Mr.. Orme."
Leaving the hatters's, Orme turned
back on State street, retracing his
steps 1t was close to the dinner
hour, and the character of the street
crowds had changed. The shoppers
had disappeared Suburbanites were
by this time aboard their trains and
homeward bound The street was
thronged with hurrying clerks and
shop girls, and the cars were jammed
with thousands more, all of them
thinking, no doubt, of the same two
things-something to eat and relaxa-
ton
What hive it was, this great
street! And how scant the lives of
the great majority! Working, eating,
sleeping, marrying and given in mar
riage, bearing children and dying
was that all? But growing, too" said
Orme to himself. Growing, too. "
Would this be the sum of his own
life--that of a worker in the hive?
1t came to him with something of an
inner pang that thus far his scheme
of things had included little more.
He wondered why he was now recog-
niZing this scantiness, this lack in his
life
! He came out of his reverie to find
himself again at the Madison street
corner. Again he seemed to see that
beautiful girl in the car, and to hear
the music of her voice
How could he best set about to find
her? She might be. like himself, a
visitor in the city. But there was the
touring car. Well, she might have
run in from one of the suburbs. He
could think of no better plan than to
call that evening on the Wallinghams
and describe the unknown to Bessie
and try to get her assistance. Bessie
would divine the situation, and she
would guy him numerically, he knew !;
but he would face even that for an.
other glimpse of the girl of the car.
And at that moment he was start
led by sharp explosion He looked
to the street. There was the black
car, humping along with one fat tire
The girl threw on the brakes and
came to a stop
In an instant Orme was in the
street. If he thought that she would
not remember him, her first glance al
leTeu LAe assumption, Tor She looked
down at him with a ready smile and
said: You see, do need you again
after ALL
AS for Orme. he could think oi
nothing better to say than simply: 81
am glad" With that he began to un
fasten the spare tire.
Il shall watch you with interest,
she went on. Il know how to run q
car-though you r1ight not think it.
but don't know now to repair one
That's mans job, anyway" said
Orme, busy now with the jack, which
was slowly raising the wheel from
the pavement