So eight days passed. Mrs. Ritter never failed to come every morning to inquire. She supplied Trina with whatever she needed. No one had yet been allowed in the sick room, and Trina was kept at her post. Several days later the doctor gave his permission to have the colonel question Andreas in regard to the accident, as the police were anxious to know if he could give them any information. The joiner received the colonel warmly; he realized how much he was indebted to him. The sick man could tell nothing about his injury except that some one had entered his room as he sat counting his money. "I was evidently struck senseless before I had time to look around to see who it was," he added. This proved to the officers that Andreas had been injured for the sake of his gold. They wondered what had become of the rest of the money, if Joggi had committed the deed. This was the first that Andreas had heard about Joggi's being suspected. "I want you to release Joggi immediately," he said. "I am positive that he did not do it. Why, Joggi wouldn't kill a fly if he could help it." "A stranger might have done it," suggested the doctor; "the windows are low, and seeing them open and the pile of money at hand, he might have felt a sudden desire to possess it." "That is very likely," replied the joiner. "I have never thought about being careful, and my house has always been unlocked." "Well," said the colonel, "it is a good thing that you have enough saved for a rainy day, so you will not suffer from the loss of the money. The best of it all is that you yourself were saved." "Yes, colonel," said the joiner, as he gave his hand in farewell, "I have enough to be thankful for. I shall never use all I have, anyway." "I am sure you are more at peace with yourself than the man that robbed you," remarked the doctor. A sad story was being told about the neighborhood concerning Joggi. He had been so reluctant to give up his gold piece, that the police had taken it from him by force after conducting him to the prison. The policeman's son was supposed to have said to him: "You just wait, Joggi; you will get your pay for this night's work. You'll see what you will get after a while." This had so thoroughly frightened Joggi that he had moaned constantly ever since; he would not eat or sleep, but sat crouched in a corner, fearing that they would come to kill him. The police came to see him a few days after his imprisonment, and promised him their protection if he would confess the truth to them. He said that he had looked in at the window and had seen the joiner lying on the floor. He went in, he said, and touched him with his foot and saw that he was dead. Then he saw the gold piece on the floor and picked it up a moment before the miller's son came in; other people soon came after that. This was his simple story, and every one was inclined to believe it, but Joggi did not get over his fright. CHAPTER VII BRIGHTER DAYS FOR THE PATIENT AND FOR SOME ONE ELSE