Very Short Summary
New York City, presumably the early 1900s. A newspaper reporter working for the Morning Beacon encountered Tripp, a miserable, alcoholic man from the mechanical department who frequently borrowed money.
One day, Tripp told the reporter about Ada Lowery, a beautiful young woman from Long Island who had come to the city looking for her childhood sweetheart, George Brown. Ada was engaged to marry a farmer named Hiram Dodd but still longed for George, with whom she had shared a split dime as a token of their love years ago.
Tripp convinced the reporter to help send Ada back home, suggesting he could write a story about her. The reporter spent his last five dollars to help Ada return to Long Island, where she was to pretend she had spent the day with her friend Susie Adams.
After seeing Ada off, Tripp asked the reporter for a dollar for whiskey. When the reporter noticed a half-dime hanging from Tripp's watch chain, the truth was revealed.
Oh yes, he responded, dully. George Brown, alias Tripp. what's the use?
Tripp was actually George Brown himself, fallen into alcoholism and poverty. Upon this revelation, the reporter immediately gave Tripp the dollar he had been requesting for whiskey.
Detailed Summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The Narrator and Tripp at the Morning Beacon
To avoid having this book hurled into corner of the room by the suspicious reader, I will assert in time that this is not a newspaper story. You will encounter no shirt-sleeved, omniscient city editor
A young journalist worked as a space-writer for the Morning Beacon newspaper, hoping to be put on salary. He had a small workspace at the end of a long table, where he wrote stories about city life.
One day, a man named Tripp approached his desk. He worked in the mechanical department with photographs, and his hands were always stained with chemicals.
He was pale and unhealthy and miserable and fawning, and an assiduous borrower of sums ranging from twenty-five cents to a dollar. One dollar was his limit. He knew the extent of his credit
Meeting Ada Lowery and Her Story
Tripp told the narrator about a young woman he had met on Thirty-fourth Street. She had just arrived from Long Island, looking for someone named George Brown. Tripp had taken her to a boarding house run by Mother McGinnis.
And then I began to feel that dull, leaden, soul-depressing sensation known as the sense of duty. Why should that sense fall upon one as a weight and a burden?
At the boarding house, they found a beautiful young woman eating gum-drops and crying. She introduced herself as Ada Lowery, who had never been to New York City before except once when she was five years old.
She was a flawless beauty. Crying had only made her brilliant eyes brighter. When she crunched a gum-drop you thought only of the poetry of motion and envied the senseless confection.
Ada explained that she was engaged to marry Hiram Dodd the following week. Hiram was a successful farmer with substantial property on Long Island.
On the day he left, he and me got a hammer and a chisel and cut a dime into two pieces. I took one piece and he took the other, and we promised to be true to each other and always keep the pieces
The Journey Back Home
The narrator realized that Ada needed to return home immediately. He bought her a ferry ticket to Greenburg and a red rose. They saw her off at the ferry, watching her wave until she was barely visible.
The spell wrought by beauty and romance was dwindling. I looked at Tripp and almost sneered. He looked more careworn, contemptible, and disreputable than ever.
Tripp's True Identity Revealed
After Ada's departure, Tripp asked if the narrator could write a story about the incident. The narrator refused, stating they had only helped the young lady and that would be their only reward. As Tripp reached for his handkerchief, the narrator noticed something hanging from his watch chain - half of a silver dime that had been cut with a chisel.
It became clear that Tripp was actually George Brown, the man Ada had been searching for. Without hesitation, the narrator gave Tripp his desired dollar for whiskey, understanding the weight of the revelation and the complex emotions behind it.