e-lights and rockets, the aurora
borealis, chain lightning, the solar system, and the eternal light of
nature, but I discovered him with a penny dip," said Eliphalet Means,
chuckling. He stood on the hearth before his two friends, his back to
the fire; it was a cool night, and he had got chilled at the open
door.

"He is going to give away the whole of it?" John Jennings said, with
wondering rumination.

"Every dollar."

Means looked at them, all the shrewd humor faded out of his face.
"I've got something to tell both of you," he said, gravely; "and,
Eben, while I think of it, I have a letter that _he_ wanted given to
your daughter. Remind me to hand it over to you to take to her when
you go home to-night. I've got something to tell you; the time has
come; _he_ said it would. I didn't half believe it, God forgive me. I
tell you, I've got a keen scent for the bad in human nature, but he
had a keen one for the good. He'd have made a sharp counsel on the
right side. After _he_ got his money, he used to talk day and night
about the poverty of this town. He had a great heart. He--_wanted and
intended that twenty-five thousand dollars to go just the way it is
going_." The lawyer, with every word, shook his skinny right hand
before the others' faces; he paused a second and looked at them with
solemn impressiveness; then he continued: "He wanted to give that
twenty-five thousand dollars, in equal parts, to the poor of this
town, as indicated in that instrument which I drew up at Robinson's
for Prescott and Basset, but instead of giving it himself he left it
to Jerome Edwards to give. He said that it would amount to the same
thing, and I tried to argue him out of it. I did not believe any man
could stand the temptation of a fortune between his fingers, but _he_
said Jerome Edwards could and would, and the money was as sure to go
as he intended it to as if he doled it out himself in dollars and
cents, and he was right. God bless him! And--_that twenty-five
thousand dollars is going just the way he meant it to go_."

Chapter XXXIX

The next day Jerome went again to Lawyer Means's. It was near noon
when he returned; he met many people on the road, and they all looked
at him strangely. Men stood in knots, and the hum of their
conversation died low when he drew near. They nodded to him with
curious respect and formality; after he had passed, the rumble of
voices began anew. One woman, whom he met just before he turned