eading, with straining
eyes, an article in the paper he held.

He calmly turned to the next page and looked leisurely over it. Another
glance, quickly taken, showed to him a disappointed frown on the pretty
face and a reluctant resumption of novel reading. A few moments later he
turned back to the first page, holding the paper in such a position
that she could not see, and, full of curiosity, read every line of the
foreign news, wondering what had interested her.

Under ordinary circumstances Lorry would have offered her the paper,
and thought nothing more of it. With her, however, there was an air that
made him hesitate. He felt strangely awkward and inexperienced beside
her; precedents did not seem to count. He arose, tossed the paper over
the back of the chair as if casting it aside forever, and strolled to
the opposite window and looked out for a few moments, jingling his coins
carelessly. The jingle of the pieces suggested something else to him.
His paper still hung invitingly, upside down, as he had left it, on the
chair, and the lady was poring over her novel. As he passed her he drew
his right hand from his pocket and a piece of money dropped to the floor
at her feet. Then began an embarrassed search for the coin--in the
wrong direction, of course. He knew precisely where it had rolled, but
purposely looked under the seats on the other side of the car. She drew
her skirts aside and assisted in the search. Four different times he
saw the little piece of money, but did not pick it up. Finally, laughing
awkwardly, he began to search on her side of the car. Whereupon she rose
and gave him more room. She became interested in the search and bent
over to scan the dark corners with eager eyes. Their heads were very
close together more than once. At last she uttered an exclamation, and
her hand went to the floor in triumph. They arose together, flushed and
smiling. She had the coin in her hand.

"I have it," she said, gaily, a delicious foreign tinge to the words.

"I thank you--" he began, holding out his hand as if in a dream of
ecstacy, but her eyes had fallen momentarily on the object of their
search.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, the prettiest surprise in the world coming into her
face. It was a coin from her faraway homeland, and she was betrayed
into the involuntary exclamation. Instantly, however, she regained her
composure and dropped the piece into his outstretched hand, a proud
flush mounting to her cheek, a look