"We are all right now," I replied.
"Yes, we are. Put me out! I should like to seen him done it! I should! I reckon my son Charles would have taught him what it was to perpetuate such an outrage on his mother. As for that Mr. Collingsby, he's a mean man! Only to think that he didn't know me!"
"Have you ever met him?"
"Have I? Yes, I have. I have been in the counting-room when he was there, and he looked right at me! And now he don't know me! No matter; that conductor didn't dare to put me out of the car! He would have lost his place if he had."
I handed her the check which the gentlemanly official had given me.
"What's that?"
"Your check."
"He's gettin' very perlite. How came he to give you this?"
"Because I paid your fare," I replied, in a low tone; for I did not care to expose my innocence to the people around me.
"You did?"