"If _I_ were t' witch dwarf, if I had f money, wud hur thank me? Wud hur take me out o' this place wid hur and Janey? I wud not come into the gran' house hur wud build, to vex hur wid t' hunch,--only at night, when t' shadows were dark, stand far off to see hur." Mad? Yes! Are many of us mad in this way? "Poor Deb! poor Deb!" he said, soothingly. "It is here," she said, suddenly jerking into his hand a small roll. "I took it! I did it! Me, me!--not hur! I shall be hanged, I shall be burnt in hell, if anybody knows I took it! Out of his pocket, as he leaned against t' bricks. Hur knows?" She thrust it into his hand, and then, her errand done, began to gather chips together to make a fire, choking down hysteric sobs. "Has it come to this?" That was all he said. The Welsh Wolfe blood was honest. The roll was a small green pocket-book containing one or two gold pieces, and a check for an incredible amount, as it seemed to the poor puddler. He laid it down, hiding his face again in his hands. "Hugh, don't be angry wud me! It's only poor Deb,--hur knows?" He took the long skinny fingers kindly in his. "Angry? God help me, no! Let me sleep. I am tired." He threw himself heavily down on the wooden bench, stunned with pain and weariness. She brought some old rags to cover him. It was late on Sunday evening before he awoke. I tell God's truth, when I say he had then no thought of keeping this money. Deborah had hid it in his pocket. He found it there. She watched him eagerly, as he took it out. "I must gif it to him," he said, reading her face. "Hur knows," she said with a bitter sigh of disappointment. "But it is hur right to keep it." His right! The word struck him. Doctor May had used the same. He washed himself, and went out to find this man Mitchell. His right! Why did this chance word cling to him so obstinately? Do you hear the fierce devils whisper in his ear, as he went slowly down the darkening street? The evening came on, slow and calm. He seated himself at the end of an alley leading into one of the larger streets. His brain was clear to-night, keen, intent, mastering. It would not start back, cowardly, from any hellish temptation, but meet it face to face. Therefore the great temptation of his life came to him veiled by no sophistry, but bold, defiant, owning its own vile name, trusting to one bold blow for victory. He did not deceive himself. Theft! That was it. At first the word sickened him; then he grappled with it. Sitting there on a broken cart-wheel, the fading day, the noisy groups, the church-bells' tolling passed before him like a panorama, while the sharp struggle went on within. This money! He took it out, and looked at it. If he gave it back, what then? He was going to be cool about it.