“How much?” After all, there was plenty; his son and his three grandchildren would never miss that little lump. He had made it himself, nearly every penny; he could leave it where he liked, allow himself this little pleasure. He went back to the bureau. “Well, I’m going to,” he thought, “let them think what they like. I’m going to!” And he sat down.

“How much?” Ten thousand, twenty thousand⁠—how much? If only with his money he could buy one year, one month of youth. And startled by that thought, he wrote quickly: