ness, that it was felt that three
millions was scarcely a compensation for it. "Ef that money was give to
her, she earned it SURE, boys: it wasn't no softness of the old man,"
said the foreman. When the jury retired, it was felt that she had
cleared her character: when they re-entered the room with their verdict,
it was known that she had been awarded three millions damages for its
defamation.

She got the money. But those who had confidently expected to see
her squander it were disappointed: on the contrary, it was presently
whispered that she was exceedingly penurious. That admirable woman, Mrs.
Stiver of Red Dog, who accompanied her to San Francisco to assist her in
making purchases, was loud in her indignation. "She cares more for two
bits than I do for five dollars. She wouldn't buy anything at the 'City
of Paris,' because it was 'too expensive,' and at last rigged herself
out, a perfect guy, at some cheap slop-shops in Market Street. And after
all the care Jane and me took of her, giving up our time and experience
to her, she never so much as made Jane a single present." Popular
opinion, which regarded Mrs. Stiver's attention as purely speculative,
was not shocked at this unprofitable denouement; but when Peg refused to
give anything to clear the mortgage off the new Presbyterian Church, and
even declined to take shares in the Union Ditch, considered by many
as an equally sacred and safe investment, she began to lose favor.
Nevertheless, she seemed to be as regardless of public opinion as she
had been before the trial; took a small house, in which she lived with
an old woman who had once been a fellow-servant, on apparently terms of
perfect equality, and looked after her money. I wish I could say that
she did this discreetly; but the fact is, she blundered. The same dogged
persistency she had displayed in claiming her rights was visible in
her unsuccessful ventures. She sunk two hundred thousand dollars in
a worn-out shaft originally projected by the deceased testator; she
prolonged the miserable existence of "The Rockville Vanguard" long after
it had ceased to interest even its enemies; she kept the doors of
the Rockville Hotel open when its custom had departed; she lost the
co-operation and favor of a fellow-capitalist through a trifling
misunderstanding in which she was derelict and impenitent; she had three
lawsuits on her hands that could have been settled for a trifle. I note
these defects to show that she w