ou have been deceived." And she added
quickly, "I don't believe it's quite so deep on the sidewalk, is it?"
With that she waded away toward the curb.

He followed, then led the way to a lee-wall that offered, comparatively
speaking, shelter.

Then, "Where's the deception?" he asked.

On any other day, it's probable she'd have acted differently; would have
paid some heed, though a bit contemptuously, perhaps, to the precepts of
ladylike behavior, in which she'd been admirably grounded. The case for
reticence and discretion was a strong one. The night was dark; the
rain-lashed street deserted; the man an utterly casual stranger--why,
she hadn't even had a straight look into his face. His motive in getting
off the car was at least dubitable. Even if not sinister, it could
easily be unpleasantly gallant. A man might not contemplate doing her
bodily harm, and still be capable of trying to collect some sort of
sentimental reward for the ducking he had submitted himself to.

Her instinct rejected all that. The sound of his voice, the
general--atmosphere of him had been exactly right. And then, he'd left
undone the things he ought not to have done. He hadn't tried to take
hold of her arm as they had splashed along through the lake to the curb.
He hadn't exhibited any tenderly chivalrous concern over how wet she
was. And, to-day being to-day, she consigned ladylike considerations to
the inventor of them, and gave instinct its head.

She laughed again as she answered his question. "The deception was that
I pretended to do it from principle. The real reason why I wouldn't pay
another fare, is because I had only one more nickel."

"Good lord!" said the man.

"And," she went on, "that nickel will pay my fare home on the elevated.
It's only about half a mile to the station, but from there home it's
ten. So you see I'd rather walk this than that."

"But that's dreadful," he cried. "Isn't there ... Couldn't you let
me ..."

"Oh," she said, "it isn't so bad as that. It's just one of the silly
things that happen to you sometimes, you know. I didn't have very much
money when I started, it being Friday. And then I paid my subscription
to _The Maroon_...." She didn't laugh audibly, but without seeing her
face, he knew she smiled, the quality of her voice enriching itself
somehow.... "And I ate a bigger lunch than usual, and that brought me
down to ten cents. I could have got more of course from anybody, but ten
cents, except for