Shirley, badly frightened, did not know what to do. She did not know that the cashier, thinking she was trying to defraud him, would not have called the police, but was simply trying to frighten her into paying.
But help came from an unexpected source.
A young man who had been an interested listener to this conversation suddenly stepped forward, and laid a dime on the counter.
“There is your ten cents,” he said quietly to the cashier. “Let the boy alone. Can’t you see he is honest?”
“About as honest as the rest of ’em,” sneered the cashier, picking up the dime.
Shirley turned to her benefactor.
“Thank you, sir,” she said earnestly. “I’ll see that you get it back.”
“Oh, all right,” said the young man with a laugh, “but I guess it won’t break me if I don’t.”
It was plain to Shirley that he never expected to have it returned, and upon that instant she decided that he should.
“If you will give me your card,” she said, “I shall see that you get it back to-morrow.”