The secret of the old mill — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The secret of the old mill
John Stuart Mill · en
Perhaps she had heard of how he had been fooled by the stranger
yesterday. Perhaps she felt contempt for him because he had been so
easily outwitted. This was one of his wild surmises, but he rejected it
because it was not like Callie to be angry about anything unless there
was good reason for her displeasure. At last he gave it up and tried to
dismiss the matter from his mind, but several times during the morning
he cast covert glances in her direction.
But Callie was plainly worried and downcast. She seldom raised her
eyes from her books, she answered the teacher's questions in a most
abstracted manner, and altogether it appeared that there was something
on her mind beyond schoolwork.
When recess came she walked slowly out of the room, not mingling with
the other girls. Frank saw her go outside toward the campus, where she
sat down on the grass by herself, watching an impromptu basketball game
and declining all requests to join in the fun.
He went over to her and flung himself down on the grass beside the
girl.
"What's the matter, Callie?"
She looked up at him and smiled faintly.
"Hello, Frank, where did you drop from?"
"I've been sitting right across from you in school all morning and this
is the first time you've noticed that I'm alive."
"I'm sorry, Frank. I didn't mean to be rude. I've got something on my
mind this morning, that's all."
"Trouble?"
She nodded.
"What about?"
"Money."
He was puzzled by this remark. Callie lived with her cousin, Miss
Pollie Shaw, the proprietor of a beauty parlor in the city, and
although Miss Shaw was not rich, she made a comfortable living.
Therefore, when Frank heard Callie say that she was worried about money
he was naturally puzzled. Callie's parents lived in the country, but
they sent their daughter frequent remittances to pay the expenses of
her education in Bayport.
"What's the matter?" he asked. "Didn't your allowance come?"
"No, it isn't that. I'm all right. It's Pollie. She lost some money.
More than she could afford."
"Lost some? How was that?"
"She lost fifty dollars last night."
Frank whistled.
"Whew! That's a lot of money."
"It certainly is. The worst of it is that Pollie had just made the
final payment on some new electrical fixtures in the shop and it had
left her pretty short of cash. I feel bad about it for her sake."
"How did it happen?"
"A woman came into the store last night and bought some beauty
preparations, quite a large order. It amounted to about twelve dollars
and she had nothing less than a fifty dollar bill in her purse. Pollie
had that much money in the till, for it was near the end of the day,
and she didn't like to lose the order, so she changed the bill."
Frank nodded soberly. He knew now what had happened.
"And the money was counterfeit," he said.
"Why, how did you know?" exclaimed Callie.