The Prodigal Imp
that young man would throw back the bill and tell him to buy kittens with it! He started to sniff, and stopped, for over the little counter came the ticket and three dimes! The young man didn't know him, nor care whether he went to New York and never came back! He picked them up and scuttled off, fearful of being called back, but nobody noticed him.
Miss Katharine Sampson was standing near the door, and as he went out he heard her say to her friend,
"Why, see little Perry Stafford! He bought a ticket himself. Where is that baby going?"
The Imp swelled with rage. That baby!
"Oh, his mother's on the other side, of course," said the other young lady. "When I was a little tot I always loved to get the tickets myself."
The Imp smiled bitterly. When she was a little tot! Doubtless she had never worn corduroy trousers, however. And young ladies were only grown-up little girls. He boarded the train, taking care to go in a car that no one else from the station patronized, and his heart beat fast as he passed by the brakeman.
"Here! where's your ma?" said that official.
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