Louise followed with a donation of a like sum, and Patsy gave the old man still another two dollar bill.

This generosity so amazed him that tears stood in his eyes as he tried to thank them all.

It was noticed that the smile did not give way even to the tears, although it was tinged with a pathetic expression that proved wonderfully affecting.
He concealed the offerings with a stealthy motion, as if ashamed of his weakness in accepting them, and then hurried away to his work.
"Well," said Louise, when they were alone, "is Thomas a miser or not ?" "He clutched the money almost as if he loved it," observed Beth, in a musing and slightly regretful tone.
"But think how poor he has been," pleaded Patsy, "and how destitute both he and Nora are yet.

Can we blame him for being glad to earn something substantial at last ?" Somehow that did not seem to explain fully the old man's behavior, and the girl who had championed him sighed and then gave a sudden shiver as she remembered the awful suspicion that had fallen upon this strange individual.

If the proof must be accepted that Hucks had miserly instincts, had not Beth accidentally stumbled upon a solution of the whole mystery?
But Patsy would not believe it.