Klondike, Klondike. He mutters it a thousand
times a day. He has visions of gold, glittering heaps of it, and he'll
stagger and struggle on till he finds it."

"But can't you reason with him?"

"Oh, it's all no use. He's had a dream. He's like a man that's crazy. He
thinks he has been chosen, and that to him will a great treasure be
revealed. You might as well reason with a stone. All I can do is to
follow him, is to take care of him."

"What about the Winklesteins, Berna?"

"Oh, they're at the bottom of it all. It is they who have inflamed his
mind. He has a little money, the savings of a lifetime, about two
thousand dollars; and ever since he came to this country, they've been
trying to get it. They ran a little restaurant in New York. They tried
to get him to put his little store in that. Now they are using the gold
as a bait, and luring him up here. They'll rob and kill him in the end,
and the cruel part is--he's not greedy, he doesn't want it for
himself--but for me. That's what breaks my heart."

"Surely you're mistaken, Berna; they can't be so bad as that."

"Bad! I tell you they're _vile_. The man's a worm, and the woman, she's
a devil incarnate. She's so strong and so violent in her tempers that
when she gets drinking--well, it's just awful. I should know it, I lived
with them for three years."

"Where?"

"In New York. I came from the old country to them. They worked me in the
restaurant at first. Then, after a bit, I got employment in a
shirt-waist factory. I was quick and handy, and I worked early and late.
I attended a night school. I read till my eyes ached. They said I was
clever. The teacher wanted me to train and be a teacher too. But what
was the good of thinking of it? I had my living to get, so I stayed at
the factory and worked and worked. Then when I had saved a few dollars,
I sent for grandfather, and he came and we lived in the tenement and
were very happy for a while. But the Winklesteins never gave us any
peace. They knew he had a little money laid away, and they itched to get
their hands on it. The man was always telling us of get-rich-quick
schemes, and she threatened me in horrible ways. But I wasn't afraid in
New York. Up here it's different. It's all so shadowy and sinister."

I could feel her shudder.

"Oh, Berna," I said, "can't I help you?"

She shook her head sadly.

"No, you can't; you have enough trouble of your own. Besides it doesn't
matter about me. I didn't mean to