Hannah explained to him what her father meant, and
told him of the box and the gold, to which she had every year added the
interest--compound interest, too--so that the amount had more than
quadrupled, and she had found it necessary to have another and larger
box in which to keep the treasure.
"That is why I have so often asked you to change bills into gold for
me," she said. "Paper might depreciate in value, or the banks go down,
but gold is gold everywhere, and I have tried so hard to earn or save
the interest, denying myself many things which I should have enjoyed as
well as most women, and getting for myself the reputation of closeness
and even stinginess, which I did not deserve. I had to be economical
with myself to meet my payments, which increased as the years went on,
until they are so large that sometimes I have not been able to put the
whole in the box at the end of the year, and I am behindhand now, but I
keep an exact account, and shall make it up in time."
"But, Hannah, I used to give you money willingly, and would have given
you more if you had asked for it.
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