came a thriving,
flourishing city it naturally extended its industries. Henry
Schulte's newly acquired property then became available for the
erection of iron works and coal breakers, and his wealth was
considerably increased by these means. A division of a part of his
land into building lots, on the main road from Herdecke to Hagen,
also swelled the volume of his increasing revenue. It seemed that he
had suddenly fallen upon the wave of advancing fortune, for soon
after this some parts of the soil being found to be of excellent
quality for brick-making, he entered into arrangements with some
extensive manufacturers and received a large sum for the use and
occupation of his grounds for that purpose.

Thus, in a very few years, the patient, plodding, avaricious farmer
found himself one of the wealthiest men in the locality. This fact,
however, produced no change in his habits or his dress, nor did his
mode of living undergo any improvement consequent upon the changed
condition of his circumstances. This vast accumulation of money only
seemed to intensify his avarice, to increase his meanness, and the
desire for gain became the ruling passion of his heart and mind. He
removed to the large and imposing mansion lately occupied by the
Baron, but this was done simply because he could find no other
occupant for it; while he could readily procure a tenant for the
little cottage where he had previously resided.

The effect of his presence there was soon made manifest, and only a
short time elapsed before this beautiful residence presented an
appearance of negligence sadly at variance with the thrifty neatness
that was everywhere apparent during the time of its occupancy by the
Baron and his family. The general air of neglect and squalor
surrounding it proclaimed that the habits of the miser had been too
firmly grounded to be easily disturbed, and that the man remained the
same, whether in the castle or the hovel.

Indeed, it seemed that his reserve and isolation became more marked,
and he dressed so shabbily that he scarcely ever appeared in other
than soiled and ragged garments. His heart became harder and more
grasping, and the few people who had known him in his younger days,
and were disposed to be friendly, soon dropped away from him, finding
it impossible to endure his harshness of manner and his penurious
ways.

His household now consisted of a housekeeper and a valet, the former
an elderly woman, who had long been