Bushell had made a mistake, and not given him as much as he thought he
had? He hardly breathed while Mr. Bushell's partner slowly counted the
bank-notes. It took him a long time, and he had to wet his finger a good
many times, and push the notes to keep them from sticking together. At
last he finished, and he looked at Frank over the top of his spectacles.
"Two thousand?" he asked.

"That's what Mr. Bushell said," answered the boy, and he could hardly get
the words out.

"Well, it's all here," said Mr. Bushell's partner, and he put the money in
his pocket, and Frank turned and went out of the store.

He felt light, light as cotton, and gladder than he almost ever was in his
life before. He was so glad that he forgot to be afraid in the bridge. The
fellows who were the most afraid always ran through the bridge, and those
who tried not to be afraid walked fast and whistled. Frank did not even
think to whistle.

His father was sitting out on the front porch when he reached home, and
he asked Frank if he had got rid of his money, and what Mr. Bushell's
partner had said. Frank told him all about it, and after a while his
father asked, "Well, Frank, do you like to have the care of money?"

"I don't believe I do, father."

"Which was the greater anxiety to you last night, Mr. Bushell's money, or
your brother?"

Frank had to think awhile. "Well, I suppose it was the money, father. You
see, it wasn't my own money."

"And if it had been your own money, you wouldn't have been anxious about
it? You wouldn't have cared if you had lost it, or somebody had stolen it
from you?"

Frank thought again, and then he said he did not believe he had thought
about that.

"Well, think about it now."

Frank tried to think, and at last he said. "I reckon I should have cared."

"And if it had been your own money, would you have been more anxious about
it than about your brother?"

This time Frank was more puzzled than ever; he really did not know what to
say.

His father said: "The trouble with money is, that people who have a great
deal of it seem to be more anxious about it than they are about their
brothers, and they think that the things it can buy are more precious than
the things which all the money in the world cannot buy." His father stood
up. "Better go to bed, Frank. You must be tired. There won't be any
thunder-storm to-night, and you haven't got a pocketful of money to keep
you awake."

XI

HOW JIM LEONARD