I did not like the old lady's philosophy, though I have since learned that there are a great many people in the world who think it is no sin to cheat a railroad corporation out of a few dollars, more or less. I once heard a man, who pretended to be a gentleman, boasting that he evaded paying his fare in the train because the conductor did not call for it. I hold him to be a swindler, just as much as though he had been called upon for his ticket. When he got into the car, he virtually bargained with the railroad company to convey him a certain distance for a certain price. No matter if the conductor did not formally demand payment; it was his duty to pay, and he was just as much a swindler and a thief, as though he had stolen or cheated some individual out of the money. I feel better now, after venting my righteous indignation on this subject. I have a good deal more respect for the thief who steals your money, or the gentlemanly swindler who plunders you of it by the polite tricks of his art, than for these pretentious knaves who lie without uttering a word, and steal without lifting a finger. Mrs. Whippleton continued, for an hour, to assure me that I was extraordinarily green, imparting a lesson on worldly wisdom, which, I am happy to say, at the age of twenty-eight, has been utterly wasted upon me. "You haven't seen much of the world, and you don't know what's what yet; but I like you, young man. You have behaved very well to a lone woman, and you shan't lose nothing by it," she continued. "I am entirely satisfied," I replied. "I didn't mean you should lose anything by me. I might have cheated you out of twelve dollars just as easy as nothing." I was certainly very much obliged to her for her kind consideration in this respect; and I was forced to acknowledge the truth of her proposition. Though I despised her, I could not help seeing that she had been just towards me. "I am very much obliged to you for not doing it," I replied. "No; I never cheat nobody; and I hate mean folks. It would have been mean in me to let you lose twelve dollars after what you did for me. If it hadn't been for you I should have been put out of the car." "But you had money to pay your fare." "I wouldn't pay that nasty conductor after I had told him I had no money. One has to be persistent." "I think you have been consistent all the way through." "Thank'ee. After what you did, and the tea you fetched, I felt an interest in you; and it ain't many folks I do feel an interest in." Of course not! Not many people would have done anything for her to induce her to feel an interest in them. "I reckon you don't belong in Chicago," she continued. "I do not. I never was there." "Well, it's a wicked place." Any place must be wicked from her stand-point. "I suppose it is no worse than any city of its size." "I don't know's it is. I suppose you have friends there." "No." "Well, where you goin' to stop, then?"