Sometimes a little
sign, saying "cashier" in gold letters, and hanging upon the silvered
netting, got directly in range and interfered with the tender message.
The love affair had not continued without anger, unhappiness, despair.
The girl had once smiled brightly upon a youth who came to buy some
tickets for his little sister, and the young man upon the platform,
observing this smile, had been filled with gloomy rage. He stood like a
dark statue of vengeance upon his pedestal and thrust out the basket to
the children with a gesture that was full of scorn for their hollow
happiness, for their insecure and temporary joy. For five hours he did
not once look at the girl when she was looking at him. He was going to
crush her with his indifference; he was going to demonstrate that he had
never been serious. However, when he narrowly observed her in secret he
discovered that she seemed more blythe than was usual with her. When he
found that his apparent indifference had not crushed her he suffered
greatly. She did not love him, he concluded. If she had loved him she
would have been crushed. For two days he lived a miserable existence
upon his high perch. He consoled himself by thinking of how unhappy he
was, and by swift, furtive glances at the loved face. At any rate he was
in her presence, and he could get a good view from his perch when there
was no interference by the little sign: "Cashier.
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