"That coat! Thunder!"
Mr. Bowser turned pale and sprang out of his chair.
"Didn't lose it going down, did you?"
"I—I believe I—I——!"
"You left it on the street car when you come up?"
"Yes."
"Mr. Bowser, anybody careless enough to leave an article of value in a street car deserves to lose it. However, you took the number of the car, I presume?"
"N—no!"
"You didn't! That shows what sort of a person you are. Yesterday when I went down after baby's shoes I took car No. 111. When I returned I took car 86. When I went over to mother's I took car 56. The conductor had red hair. One horse was brown and the other black. The driver had a cast in his left eye. There were four women and five men in the car. We passed two loads of ashes, one of dirt and an ice cream wagon. The conductor wore No. 8 shoes, and was nearsighted. The street railways contract to carry passengers, Mr. Bowser, not to act as guardians for sap heads and children."
"But I'll get it at the office to-morrow," he slowly replied.