his gold, and of his having again evaded them.  Mr. Staples agreed with their purpose, but, to Johnny’s intense astonishment, said nothing about his own find!  When they had passed on, the boy slipped from his place of concealment and followed them at a distance until his own house came in view.  Here the two men diverged, but the minister continued on towards the other “store” and post-office on the main road.

He would have told his mother what he had seen, and his surprise that the minister had not spoken of finding the gold to the other men, but he was checked, first by his mother’s attitude towards him, which was clearly the same as the minister’s, and, second, by the knowledge that she would have condemned his dropping the gold in the minister’s path,—­though he knew not why,—­or asked his reason for it, which he was equally sure he could not formulate, though he also knew not why.  But that evening, as he was returning from the spring with water, he heard the minister’s voice in the kitchen.  It had been a day of surprises and revelations to Johnny, but the climax seemed to be reached as he entered the room; and he now stood transfixed and open-mouthed as he heard Mr. Staples say:—­

“It’s all very well, Sister Medliker, to comfort your heart with vain hopes and delusions.  A mother’s leanin’s is the soul’s deceivin’s,—­and yer leanin’ on a broken reed.  If the boy truly found that gold he’d have come to ye and said:  ’Behold, mother, I have found gold in the highways and byways; rejoice and be exceedin’ glad!’ and hev poured it inter yer lap.  Yes,” continued Mr. Staples aggressively to the boy, as he saw him stagger back with his pail in hand, “yes, sir, that would have been the course of a Christian child!”

For a moment Johnny felt the blood boiling in his ears, and a thousand words seemed crowding in his throat.  “Then”—­he gasped and choked.  “Then”—­he began again, and stopped with the suffocation of indignation.

But Mr. Staples saw in his agitation only an awakened conscience, and, nudging Mrs. Medliker, leaned eagerly forward for a reply.  “Then,” he repeated, with suave encouragement, “go on, Johnny!  Speak it out!”

“Then,” said Johnny, in a high, shrill falsetto that startled them, “then wot for did you pick up that piece o’ gold in the road this arternoon, and say nothin’ of it to the men who followed ye?  Ye did; I seed yer!  And ye didn’t say nothin’ of it to anybody; and ye ain’t sayin’ nothin’ of it now ter maw! and ye’ve got it in yer vest!  And it’s mine, and I dropped it!  Gimme it.”

Astonishment, confusion, and rage swelled and empurpled Staples’ face.  It was his turn to gasp for breath.  Yet in the same moment he made an angry dash at the boy.  But Mrs. Medliker interfered.  This was an entirely new feature in the case.  Great is the power of gold.  A single glance at the minister’s confusion had convinced her that Johnny’s accusation was true, and it was Johnny’s money—­constructively hers—­that the minister was concealing.  His mere possession of that gold had more effect in straightening out her loose logic than any sense of hypocrisy.