ch? _I--I?_" he asked himself. Pleasures hitherto out of his
imagination of possession seemed to float within his reach on this
golden tide of wealth.

He would have been more than man had not this first grasp of the
divining-rod of the pleasures of earth filled him with the lust of
them. Even his love for Lucina, and his parents and sister, seemed
for a while subverted by that love for himself, to which the chance
of its gratification gave rise. Vanities which he had never known
within his nature, and petty emulations, rose thick, like a crop of
weeds on a rich soil. He saw himself in broadcloth and fine linen,
with a great festoon of gold chain on his breast and a gold watch in
pocket, walking with haughty flourishes of a cane, or riding in his
own carriage. He saw himself in a new house, grander than Doctor
Prescott's; he saw his parlor more richly furnished, _his_ wife,
_his_ mother and sister more finely attired than any women in the
village, _his_ father throned like a king in the late sunshine of
life. Jerome had usually sound financial judgment and conservative
estimate of the value of money, but now he thought of twenty-five
thousand dollars as almost unlimited wealth.

That night, after he had the news from Lawyer Means, he could not
sleep until nearly morning. He lay awake, spending, mentally,
principal and interest of his little fortune over and over, and
spending, besides that, much of the singleness and unselfishness of
his own heart.

However, after an hour or two of sleep, which seemed to turn, as
sleep sometimes will, the erratic currents of his mind back into the
old channels, from which it had been forced by this earthquake stress
of life, he experienced a complete revulsion.

He remembered--what he had either forgotten or ignored--the scene in
the store, his vow, the drawing up of the document which registered
it. He awoke into this memory as into a chilling atmosphere, and went
down-stairs with a grave face. He met his mother's and sister's
almost hysterical delight, which had not abated overnight, his
father's child-like wonder and admiration, soberly; as soon as he
could, he got away to his work, which was still in the wood where his
mill had stood. Cheeseman had gone home, still Jerome was not alone
much of the day. People came to congratulate him, also out of
curiosity. The little village was wild over the legacy, and the
document concerning its division among the poor.

There were two di