me--nay, demand me, and couple the demand with a threat that my
guardian should lose her home were the demand refused. I was given
over, I hoped, to better quarters, but in this I was sadly
disappointed, for my new owner confined me in a strong but
ill-favored box where thousands like myself were growing mouldy and
wrinkled, away from the light of day. Sometimes we were released at
night to be carefully counted by candle-light, but that was all. Thus
we who were imprisoned together formed a partnership, but even then we
were not strong enough to free ourselves. One night the box was opened
with a snap and I saw the thin, pale face of my master looking down at
us. He selected me and ninety-nine of my companions and placed us
outside the box.

"There's the money," he said, "as I told you. It's all yours. Are you
satisfied now?" I looked across the table at a young girl with a
white, set face that was very, very beautiful. She did not answer.

"If you want it why don't you take it?" he snarled at her. "I can tell
you again that there is nothing else for you."

The girl had something in her hand that I saw. I see more than most
men. The thing she had made a sharp noise and spit a flame at him. He
fell across the table and something red and warm went all over me. I
began to be unhappy, for I thought I saw that there was something in
the world that could not be bought. For him I cared nothing.

It was strange that after my transfers I was at last used to pay the
judge who tried the girl. I was in the judge's pocket when he
sentenced her to death. He said: "May the Lord have mercy on your
soul." But I knew, for I told you I could see more than most men,