e and bustle.

In the course of his wanderings, he chanced upon the station restaurant,
and though in his excitement and the novelty of the scenes about him, he
had not thought of eating, the sight of food suddenly roused his hunger,
and he went up to one of the counters.

The prices of the food, however, amazed him, and it was several minutes
before he had picked out anything that he wanted that did not cost too
much.

So long did Bob linger over the consumption of the modest repast he had
ordered, that the waitress began to eye him with suspicion. And finally
she exclaimed:

"Say! how long do you think you can stay here eating, or are you hoping
that you will get a chance to sneak off without paying me? But that game
won't work. I'm too wise to get caught by any trick like that. So just
come across with the price of your feed."

This caustic comment upon the length of time he was lingering over the
meal, and the open charge that he was trying to defraud the waitress,
hurt Bob, and his embarrassment was evident in the flush that mounted to
his face, as he stammered:

"I'm sorry if I've taken too long over my food. I didn't know I was
expected to eat it all at once. But I don't think you have any right to
say that I was trying to cheat you out of the pay. If I hadn't had the
money in my pocket to pay for what I ordered, I shouldn't have ordered
anything. How much is it, please?"

"Thirty cents," snapped the waitress.

Quickly Bob thrust his hand in his pocket, and drew forth a dollar bill
and gave it to her.

So deeply had Bob been stirred by the unjust reflection upon his
honesty, that his misery was plainly visible on his face, and the
waitress, returning, could not but notice it.

"I'm sorry if I made you feel bad, kid," she apologized, "but you see,
when people buy things in here, they generally pay for them right off,
and we have so many tricks worked on us that we have to be pretty sly
not to get nailed by some of them. But you're all right. You're only
just green."

Leaving the restaurant, Bob returned to the waiting-room, where he
picked out a seat nearest the place where the train announcer always
stood when he called out the trains that were ready for the passengers.
But as he sat there, he could not get the words of the girl in the
restaurant out of his mind, and kept repeating to himself: "Only just
green."

The constant brooding over this remark suggested the thought to him: "If
people here