his eyes gleamed as if he were mad.
When he had counted all, he jumped from his seat, shouting like a
maniac, 'Sixteen thousand, six hundred and sixty-six dollars!' Again and
again he shouted this in wild triumph.

"After a while he sobered down, and inside of me he began to pack away
his treasures--carefully, caressingly, as a mother might lay her
children to sleep. When I was full to the brim with shining gold, he put
my head on, fitted the upper hoop on snugly, and then put me in the bed.
The great knife he slipped under the pillow. Then, blowing out the
light, he lay down beside me with one arm thrown about me. So the
miser, clasping me to his heart, fell asleep.

"Day after day, night after night, this selfsame performance was
repeated. My master did little work; indeed, he did not seem eager to
increase his store, but merely to hold it safely. But about this he was
so anxious that he was in a fever of excitement all the time. For days
he would not leave the house. Never was he free from the fear of losing
his money. And this suspicion had poisoned his whole life, had made him
hate his kind and lose all belief in the love and the goodness of God,
that he had once professed.

"One day in summer he left the front door open. I was drowsing, when
suddenly I heard him give a frightened yell. In the doorway stood a man
and a woman. The man was the village pastor, and the woman, I soon
learned, was my master's wife. For a moment my master stood looking
angrily at them. Then he said abruptly, 'Why did you come here?'

"'John,' said the woman, 'your child Mary is dying; and I thought that
you, her father, would want to see her before she passed away.' Her
voice choked, and her breast heaved with sobs.

"'Dying, is she?' said my master brutally. 'I don't believe it. You are
simply after my gold. You might as well get away from here,' he added
with a threatening look.

"'John,' returned the woman, great tears coming to her eyes, 'I never in
my life lied to you. Mary is dying, and I could not let her go without
giving you a chance to see her. Last night in her delirium she begged
for you. She wants you, John; she wants to say good-by to you!'

"But my master remained unmoved. The sinister look in the eyes, the
doggedness of the face did not change. He stared at them; then he
shouted in frenzy: 'You lie! You want my money! Everybody wants it!
Everybody loves it! There isn't an honest man in the world! All are
thieves! A