Page:Pratt portraits - sketched in a New England suburb (IA prattportraitssk00full).pdf/306

 he was once very near getting himself into trouble.

It happened that a stout, pompous woman motioned him to stop the car at a street corner just as he had his hands full of change, and he was a little late in pulling the strap. The driver was also a little slow with the brake, and the portly passenger gazed with kindling indignation at the gradually receding vision of her garden gate. When at last the car had come to a full stop, she arose in her majesty and approached the door. Arrived on the platform she turned to Dick, and said severely:

"Conductor, why didn't you stop the car at my corner?"

This was too much for Dick's discretion. With an air of elaborate apology, he said: "I beg your pardon, madam; I didn't know you had a corner."

Then, as she flashed upon him a malignant look, he added, meekly, "I will be more careful another time."

The good woman's wrath was tempered with perplexity, and by the time Dick had gallantly assisted her from the platform, there was that in her countenance which told him that he was forgiven. The danger was averted for that time, but the incident gave Dick an entirely new feeling of self-distrust, and he resolved to cultivate the virtue of stolidity.

As the day passed, and he became a little