The conductor listened coldly, and, it must be added, with incredulity. He had met such cases before.
"Then you can pay me the value of the ticket," he said.
The young man's face flushed. Small as the sum was, he did not have it.
"Will you be kind enough to give me time, and I may find the ticket?" he said.
"I will wait till we reach the next station," said the official, coldly. "Then you must either show me the ticket or pay your fare."
"If I can do neither?"
"Of course I must ask you to leave the train," and the conductor passed on.
Paul stood where he could hear this colloquy, and he noticed the distress of the young man. His sympathies were aroused, for he suspected that the passenger had not enough money to replace the missing ticket.
He, too, knew what it was to be poor, and he pitied him.
"Excuse me, sir," he said, approaching the young man, after the conductor had passed on, "but have you lost your ticket?"