The Irish standard., 1892-12-10
whitened. He turned away with .

81 ome, mates, y cried another voice,
and tie men vanished in the darkness. Il
How long he remained sitting, Lame
| Caspar did not know. But long after,
| when he looked up into the obscurity
] and silence, the word - Thief rang
through his brain like the clashing of
! discordant bells. He a thief? Yes, he
had stolen the gold piece. He was a
thief!
He did not go fishing on the following
! day. A sudden resolve had come to
him. He would clear his conscience by
finding the little boy and returning the
money. He did not mean to confess his
guilt He could not bring himself to
| such a l1umiliating avowal. He would
say he had found the gold piece acct
dentally.
Toward noon he clambered up the
steep pathway leading to the hotel on
! the cliff. He trelnbled with nervous
ness as he neared the great white build
ing, with its flying flags making spots of
vivid color against the pine groves be-
| yond. He glanced eagerly about among
the groups of people who were seated on
| the veranda, but he could not distin-
guish any one resembling the little boy.
Then he went inside and hardly able to
control his voice. put few tinid ques-
lions to the clerk. who eyed him suspi-
ciously. "A little boy, with eyes col
ored like the sea, and bright hair that
floated on his houlders-where was he?"
ellis nane?'' the clerk inquired in a
businesslike way.
II don't know his name, but want to
find him. It is-it is something impor-
! tant.
The clerk reflected moment, then
| shook his head. Yes, there had been a
little boy answering to that description
in the hotel, but he had gone away with
his parents the day before. Where to?
| All, that he did not know.
Tears sprang into Lame Caspars eyes.
Horribly disappointed, he moved away
and mechanically descended the sunlit
cliffs to the shore. What should he do
now? The gold piece carried with it a
| curse-a curse from which he would
never free himself His conscience tor
tured him. His luck had changed. He
caught hardly any fish nowadays, and
his companions were estranged from
him. They looked upon him with dis
| trust and suspicion, and all the while
that hideous word ''Thief!' rang in his
ears and seemed branded upon his soul.
| Weeks passed. He never went near
the cupboard where the gold piece lay
| shining at the bottom Of the cup. He
was afraid to look at it. Nobody spoke
to him and he spoke to no one. He shut
himself up in his cabin. and his one
thought night and day was how to get
! rid of the curse that overshadowed him.
His superstitious nature grew morbidly
| sensitive. Often he fancied he was go
ing mad.
The winter ca1ne-the severe winter
of the north. The angry sea dashed it.
self into glittering spray. The great
bluff was carpeted with snow and the
sky was gray Lame Caspar became a
hermit. When he did go out it was
early, SO that no one could see him, and
he returned only when night had fallen.
The gold piece haunted him as might
some frightful specter. It was as though
the cupboard concealed a grim presence
that he dared not face. In the village
the people tapped their foreheads sig
nificantly.
,'Heis crazy they said. Better not
go near him or he may do harm" So
they let him alone.
Gradually the situation became so i'll
tolerable that Lame Caspar concluded
he must end it or else put an end to him
self. He began to devise ways and
means By and by he thought of plan
and resolved to carry it out.
One bleak Decembez night, with a
terrible sinking of this heart, he un-
locked the cupboard. took the gold piece
in his hand, and stealing quietly from
the house walked to the edge of the
cliffs. The moon had burst from be-
hind cloud and spangled the sea and
the snow covered bluffs Caspar had a
knife in his pocket; but he had not quite
decided to use tx
He wasn't sure whether it would be
better to dig a hole and bury the gold
piece, or to fling it into the sea and him
self after it. Life had no longer any
charm or interest for him. He had be-
| come coward anu dill outcdSt. le
would rather die than live. However,
he could do nothing while the moon
shone so brightly. He must wait awhile
until it hid itself behind another cloud.
He paced impatiently to and fro in the
frosty night Then all at once came a
loud jingle Of sleigh bells and the sound
of merry laughter. Lame CASPIAN start
ed and stood still as a large sleigh drew
up almost in front Of him and a man
Jumping out ran to the horses to arrange
displaced plume. Voices fioated to-
ward the solitary figure on the cliff, and
among them was one that caused Cas-
paris heart almost to stand still. while a
1 great sob rose in his throat
1T was just here said clear, child
ish treble, 'that l lost my gold piece
Just below there on the shore. Such a
nice, kind fisherman came and helped
me to look for it-and'- The boy
stopped speaking. Then continued in
an altered tone: why, SEQ that man
yonder! What can he be doing there:
Something is the matter with him.
x1s ,