But the blessedness of giving I felt 

 must be mine, so I bribed the porter 

 to take as many sweet peas as he could 

 carry and present them to the sick lady 

 in the next car, and on no account to 

 tell where he got them. I did not want 

 the thanks, neither did I want the sweet 

 peas, but I was illogical enough to 

 hope that the Recording Angel would 

 be busy and accept the act at its face 

 value as a "deed of kindness." 



It must have been a slack day with 

 the angel, for this is a brief but accu- 

 rate account of what followed, and I 

 am willing to leave it to any human, 

 whether my punishment was not out of 

 all proportion to the offense committed : 



One hour later. Train stops for ten 

 minutes. I got out for fresh air and 

 promenade on platform. Behold, the 

 first object that meets my gaze is the 



