MOBILE DIGITAL LIBRARY - SOCIETY OF YOUNG NIGERIAN ...

couldn't stop to figure out if she was mad or scared. I said 'Look-y-here, Miss Midland,I'm an American—here's my card—I just want to help you out, that's all. You needn't beafraid I'll bother you any.' And with that I asked the waiter how much it was, paid him,and went out for my usual half-hour constitutional in the little park opposite the library."When I went back to the reading-room, she was there in the seat next me, all right, butmy, wasn't she buried in a big folio! She's studying in some kind of old music-books.You would have laughed to see how she didn't know I existed. I forgot all about her tillclosing-up time, but when I got out in the court a little ahead of her, I found it was rainingand blowing to beat the cars, and I went back to hunt her up, I being the only person thatknew she was broke. There she was, moping around in the vestibule under one of thoseawful pancake hats English women wear. I took out six cents—it costs that to ride in theomnibuses here—and I marched up to her. 'Miss Midland,' I said, 'excuse me again, butthe weather is something terrible. You can't refuse to let me loan you enough to get homein a 'bus, for you would certainly catch your death of cold, not to speak of spoiling yourclothes, if you tried to walk in this storm.'"She looked at me queerly again, drew in her chin, and said very fierce, 'No, certainlynot! Some one always comes to fetch me away.'"Of course I didn't believe a word of that! It was just a bluff to keep from seeming toneed anything. So I smiled at her and said, 'That's all right, but suppose something