While I was walking down the road the other day, I happened to notice a small brown leather purse lying on the sidewalk. I picked it up and opened it to see if I could find out the owner’s name. There was nothing inside it except for some small change and a rather old photograph – a picture of a woman and a young girl about twelve years old, who looked like the woman’s daughter. I put the photograph back and took the purse to the police station, where I handed it to the sergeant in charge. Before I left, the sergeant wrote down my name and address, in case the owner of the purse wanted to contact me to thank me.

That evening, I went to have dinner with an uncle and aunt of mine. They had also invited another person, a young woman, so that there would be four at the table. The young woman’s face was familiar, but I could not remember where I had seen it. I was quite sure that we had never met before.  In the course of the conversation, however, the young woman happened to mention that she had lost her purse that afternoon. I at once remembered where I had seen her face. She was the young girl in the photograph, although she was now much older.

Of course, she was very surprised when I was able to describe her purse to her. Then I explained how I had recognized her face from the photograph I had found in the purse. My uncle insisted on going straight to the police station to claim the purse. As the police sergeant handed it over, he said it was a remarkable coincidence that I had found not only the lost purse, but also the person who had lost it.