t of the afternoon the attention of a whole
laborious colony.

The next morning, however, brought trouble to him in the curiosity of
his sisters, heightened by their belief that he could at any moment be
taken off to prison--which was their understanding of their mother's
story. I grieve to say that to them this invested him with a certain
romantic heroism, from the gratification of which the hero himself was
not exempt. Nevertheless, he successfully evaded their questioning, and
on broader impersonal grounds. As girls, it was none of their business!
He wasn't a-going to tell them HIS secrets! And what did they know about
gold, anyway? They couldn't tell it from brass! The attitude of his
mother was, however, still perplexing. She was no longer actively
indignant, but treated him with a mysterious reserve that was the
more appalling. The fact was that she no longer believed in his
theft,--indeed, she had never seriously accepted it,--but his strange
reticence and secretiveness piqued her curiosity, and even made her a
little afraid of him. The capacity for keeping a secret she believed was
manlike, and reminded her--for no reason in the world--of Jim Medliker,
her husband, whom she feared. Well, she would let them fight it out
between them. More than that, she was finally obliged to sink her
reserve in employing him in the necessary "chores" for the house, and
he was sent on an errand to the country store at the cross-roads. But he
first extracted his gold-flake from the wall, and put it in his pocket.

On arriving at the store, it was plain even to his boyish perceptions
that the minister had circulated his miserable story. Two or three of
the customers spoke to each other in a whisper, and looked at him. More
than that, when he began his homeward journey he saw that two of the
loungers were evidently following him. Half in timidity and half in
boyish mischief he once or twice strayed from the direct road, and
snatched a fearful joy in observing their equal divergence. As he passed
Mr. Staples's house he saw that reverend gentleman sneak out of his
back gate, and, without seeing the two others, join in the inquisitorial
procession. But the events of the past day had had their quickening
effect upon Johnny's intellect. A brilliantly wicked thought struck him.
As he was passing a perfectly bare spot on the road he managed, without
being noticed, to cast his glittering flake of gold on the sterile
ground at the other sid