You must relinquish it; you must give it up!" The earnestness with which she uttered her last words seemed, to her surprise, to amuse him.
"You think," he said, "that I should go back and make a new start by a different route?
But I don't know the schedule; my transportation is good on only one line." And he grinned at his joke.
"Oh, you will have to pay your fare!" she replied quickly.

"You've never done that." His grin became a smile, and he said: "You want me to walk if I can't pay my way!" "Yes," she laughed happily, feeling that her victory was half won; "and you would have to be careful to stop, look, and listen at the crossings!" The allusion further eased the stress of the hour; humor shone in his gray eyes.

He consulted his watch, frowned, bent his eyes upon the floor, then turned to her with disconcerting abruptness.
"I haven't been half the boss you think me.

I've been hedged in, cramped, and shackled.

All these fellows who hop the stick when I say 'Jump' have their little axes I must help grind.