"What can it avail to speak of such
matters now?"
He turned towards me impatiently.
"Not talk," he repeated, "when I have for years been as one dumb,
and at length the string of my tongue is loosened! Not talk, when,
if I keep silence now, he will haunt me in eternity, as he has
haunted me in time!"
I did not answer, I only moistened his parched lips, and bathed his
burning forehead as tenderly as my unaccustomed hands understood how to
perform such offices.
"Lift me up a little, please," he said; and I put the pillows in
position as deftly as I could.
"You are not a bad fellow," he remarked, "but I am not going to leave
you anything."
"God forbid!" I exclaimed, involuntarily.
"Are not you in want of money?" he asked.
"Not of yours," I answered.
"Mine," he said; "it is not mine, it is his. He thought a great deal of
money, and he has come back for it. He can't rest, and he won't let me
rest till I have paid him principal and interest--compound interest.
Yes--well, I am able to do even that."
We sat silent for a few minutes, then he spoke again.
"When I first went into business with my borrowed capital, nothing I
touched really succeeded. I found myself going back--back. Far better
was my position as clerk; then at least I slept sound at nights, and
relished my meals.
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