"It looks like a new casing," he said. "It would be too bad to ruin it.
If you have a spare I will be very glad to change it for you," and
without waiting for her acquiescence he stripped off his coat, rolled up
his shirt-sleeves, and dove under the seat for the jack.

Elizabeth Compton was about to protest, but there was something about
the way in which the stranger went at the job that indicated that he
would probably finish it if he wished to, in spite of any arguments she
could advance to the contrary. As he worked she talked with him,
discovering not only that he was a rather nice person to look at, but
that he was equally nice to talk to.

She could not help but notice that his clothes were rather badly
wrinkled and that his shoes were dusty and well worn; for when he
kneeled in the street to operate the jack the sole of one shoe was
revealed beneath the light of an adjacent arc, and she saw that it was
badly worn. Evidently he was a poor young man.

She had observed these things almost unconsciously, and yet they made
their impression upon her, so that when he had finished she recalled
them, and was emboldened thereby to offer him a bill in payment for his
services. He refused, as she had almost expected him to do, for while
his clothes and his shoes suggested that he might accept a gratuity, his
voice and his manner belied them.

During the operation of changing the wheel the young man had a good
opportunity to appraise the face and figure of the girl, both of which
he found entirely to his liking, and when finally she started off, after
thanking him, he stood upon the curb watching the car until it