It was really a big day for Mrs. Smith. Her husband，an ordinary office worker gave her ten pounds for her birthday-ten pretty pound notes. She could at last buy the beautiful thing she had always wanted. So the day after her birthday Mrs. Smith went shopping. She got on a bus and sat down next to an old lady. After a while she noticed that the old lady's bag was open. Inside it，she found a wad of pound notes like the one her husband had given her the day before. She quickly looked into her own bag－the notes were gone. Mrs. Smith was sure that the old lady sitting next to her must have stolen them. She thought she would not have to call the police as she didn't like getting people into trouble. So she decided to take back the money from the lady's bag and say nothing about it. She looked around the bus to make sure nobody was watching， then she carefully put her hand into the old lady's handbag， took out the notes and put them into the bag of her own.

    When she returned home that evening，she showed her husband the beautiful hat she had bought. “How did you pay for it?” he asked in surprise. “With the money you gave me for my birthday，of course. ““Oh， what's that then?” he asked，as he pointed to a wad of pound notes on the table.