agile, even in his waterproof, he springs aboard a car and greets Annie.

'Hello, Annie! Keeping the wet out?'

'Trying to.'

There are only two people in the car. Inspecting is soon over. Then for a
long and impudent chat on the foot-board, a good, easy, twelve-mile chat.

The inspector's name is John Thomas Raynor--always called John Thomas,
except sometimes, in malice, Coddy. His face sets in fury when he is
addressed, from a distance, with this abbreviation. There is considerable
scandal about John Thomas in half a dozen villages. He flirts with the
girl conductors in the morning, and walks out with them in the dark
night, when they leave their tram-car at the depot. Of course, the girls
quit the service frequently. Then he flirts and walks out with the
newcomer: always providing she is sufficiently attractive, and that she
will consent to walk. It is remarkable, however, that most of the girls
are quite comely, they are all young, and this roving life aboard the car
gives them a sailor's dash and recklessness. What matter how they behave
when the ship is in port. Tomorrow they will be aboard again.

Annie, however, was something of a Tartar, and her sharp tongue had kept
John Thomas at arm's length for many months. Perhaps, therefore, she
liked him all the more: for he always came up smiling, with impudence.
She watched him vanquish one girl, then another. She could tell by the
movement of his mouth and eyes, when he flirted with her in the morning,
that he had been walking out with this lass, or the other, the night
before. A fine cock-of-the-walk he was. She could sum him up pretty well.