"Contrary to orders," said the conductor. "Couldn't do it."
"What am I to do then?"
"If you can't pay your fare, you'll have to get off the cars."
"It seems to me you're rather hard," said a passenger.
"I have to obey orders," said the conductor. "I don't make the regulations myself."
"If you will allow me," said a lady opposite, "I will pay your fare, sir."
"Thank you, ma'am," said Martin. "I'll accept your kind offer, though I wouldn't need to be beholden to anybody, if it hadn't been for my loss. It's pretty hard on a poor man," he added, complainingly.
"Will you accept a trifle towards making up your loss?" said an old gentleman, who had more benevolence than penetration.
"Thank you, sir," said James Martin, accepting the two-dollar bill which was tendered him, without feeling the least delicacy in so doing.
"You're very kind. I wouldn't take it if I hadn't been so unfortunate."