Not there . I had another chill . Then I felt in a little inside pocket . All in vain . I had two chills at once . `` I took off my gloves , laid them on the seat , and went over all my pockets again . It was not there . I stood up and shook myself , and then looked on the floor . The car was full of people , who were going home from the opera , and they all stared at me , but I was past caring for a little thing like that . `` But I could not find my fare . I concluded I must have put it in my mouth and swallowed it inadvertently . `` I did n't know what to do . Would the conductor , I wondered , stop the car and put me off in ignominy and shame ? Was it possible that I could convince him that I was merely the victim of my own absentmindedness , and not an unprincipled creature trying to obtain a ride upon false pretenses ? How I wished that Alec or Alonzo were there . But they were n't because I wanted them . If I HAD N'T wanted them they would have been there by the dozen . And I could n't decide what to say to the conductor when he came around . As soon as I got one sentence of explanation mapped out in my mind I felt nobody could believe it and I must compose another . It seemed there was nothing to do but trust in Providence , and for all the comfort that gave me I might as well have been the old lady who , when told by the captain during a storm that she must put her trust in the Almighty exclaimed , ` Oh , Captain , is it as bad as that ? '
`` Just at the conventional moment , when all hope had fled , and the conductor was holding out his box to the passenger next XXXXX me , I suddenly remembered where I had put that wretched coin of the realm .
If at because by during of over that to upon