Then Jan told her the story that I have told you time and again (it’s not in my books) of a lady in New York City. This lady, Ann, lived up at the Ansonia at 73rd and Broadway and she’s a member of the oldest profession in the world, a lady of the evening. She came to my meetings when time allowed. So this day in question, I met her at Broadway and 73rd, and she said to me, “Neville, I want to ask you something.” “All right, Ann what is it?” She said, “I walked by a hat store and I saw this perfectly wonderful hat advertised for seventeen-fifty. Well, I so fell in love with it I applied your principle, so I took the hat in my Imagination and put it on. I walked up Broadway feeling that I was wearing the hat. On my way back, I wouldn’t look into the window to be disillusioned, so I kept the hat on my head in my Imagination. When I went home, still not to be disillusioned I took it off without looking into the mirror and put it up on top of the shelf, and then I retired. Well, the next morning the old hat is still there, but at least I had the pleasure of maybe an hour and a half of wakefulness wearing the hat. Now, ten days later I still haven’t the hat. A friend of mine called me up and said, ‘Ann, are you busy?’ I said no. ‘Well, I’d like to see you.’ And so, Ann went up to see this friend and the friend said, “I have something to give you. I do not know what possessed me, but I bought a hat and when I came home and tried it on, I wondered, you must have been insane! I wouldn’t wear that hat to a dog fight.” So she brought out the hat…not a hat, the hat…and she said, “Ann, I think it would look lovely on you!” and gave Ann the hat.” So Ann said to me, “Why didn’t God give me the money to buy the hat instead of giving it to me in the way that he gave it to me, through this friend?” I said, “Do you feel obligated?” She said no. I said, “Now look, I know exactly your work and we are adults, we can talk friend to friend. What price hat do you usually buy?” Now this is before the 2nd World War and if you can’t go back that far, may I tell you hats sold for two dollars, two-fifty, two-seventy-five and three dollars, and there were millions of hats at three dollars. She said, “Well, I would go sometimes as high as five.” I said, “Did you ever buy a seventeen dollar hat?” She said no. I said, “All right, do you owe any rent?” She said, “You’re too nosy.” I said, “I’m just curious, do you owe any rent?” She said, “Yes I owe two weeks rent.” I said, “Then you owe just about thirty-five dollars, don’t you?” She said, “Exactly thirty-five dollars.” I said, “Now if you looked down and you found hundred dollar bill while you’re admiring the hat, not having ever bought a hat that expensive, would you have bought the hat?” I said, I’ll answer for you, no! You would not have bought the hat. You would have gone back to the Ansonia, paid down thirty-five dollars, and possibly you would have paid a week or two weeks in advance to feel free. That’s what you would have done…and you would not have the hat. Now tell me, Ann, how much money must God give you to get you to buy a seventeen dollar hat? If he gave you a thousand, you’re not in the habit of buying seventeen-dollar hats, so you’d have kept the thousand. So God knows best how to give you that hat. So he gave it to you, what are you quarreling about?448 ¶18