“I sha’n’t do anything of the sort. I’m not a bit tired!” returned the other. “I insist on your sitting down!”
“But I’m not tired now.”
“Louise Valeria Munson,” her friend declared, with humorous emphasis, “if you don’t sit right down, I’ll call a policeman!”
“Well, I guess there’s room for us both,” said Louise Valeria Munson; “I’m sure there ought to be.”
By this time some of the other ladies on the seat had discovered that they were perhaps taking up a little more than their fair share of space, and there was a readjustment of frontier. The vacancy was slightly broadened, and both young ladies sat down.
The man who had got in just after Harry Brackett and who had given up his seat stood in the center of the car with his hand through a strap. But he made no effort to pay his fare. The driver rang his bell, the passengers looked at each other inquiringly, and one of the two young ladies who had just seated themselves produced a dime, which was passed along and dropped into the fare-box in accordance with the printed instructions of the company.
Three ladies left the car just before it turned into Fourteenth Street; and after it had rounded the curve two elderly gentlemen entered and sat down by the side of Harry Brackett. The man who had not paid his fare kindly volunteered to drop their money into the box, but did not put in any of his own. Harry Brackett was certain of this, for he had watched him closely.
The two elderly gentlemen continued a conversation began before they entered the car. “I’ll tell you,” said one of them, so loudly that Harry Brackett could not help overhearing, “the most remarkable thing that man Skinner ever did. One day he got caught in one of his amusing little swindles; by some slip-up of his ingenuity he did not allow himself quite rope enough, and so he was brought up with a round turn in the Tombs. He got two years in Sing Sing, but he never went up at all—he served his time by substitute!”
“What?” cried his companion, in surprise.
“He did!” answered the first speaker. “That’s just what he did! He had a substitute to go to State’s Prison for him, while he went up to Albany to work for his own pardon!”