the old captain seen this cowardly, contemptible
deed, he would probably have thought that all the waters of all the
oceans could not "wash the meanness" from the soul of his grandson.

For the rest of that day and for the next, and for two or three
succeeding ones, Theodore's thoughts dwelt much upon this last
interview with the two cripples; but do not let it be thought, with any
disquieting reproaches from his conscience, or any feeling of remorse.
To him, all that had passed was a mere nothing, not worth a second
thought, save for the one idea which had made a deep impression on him.

That hair of Matty's, that mass of beautiful, shining hair, which even
his boyish, unpractised eye could see was something uncommon,--worth
five dollars; it was impossible! And yet could it be? If "Jim's ladies"
thought it so beautiful, it might be that it was worth a good deal of
money. What fools, then, were Matty and Tony, the one for keeping it
upon her head, the other for not persuading her to part with it, and
taking a share of the money for himself! In all his life Theodore had
never had so much money; and his mean, selfish soul at once set itself
to devise means by which one--he did not yet, even to his own thoughts,
say himself--could gain possession of the girl's hair.

He had heard of girls being robbed, in the street, of their hair; but
that would never do here with Matty, no, not even though he had an
accomplice to help him. And he knew of no one to whom he could even
suggest such a thing; for he had no acquaintances in the city save the
boys in his school; and to no one of them could he or would he dare to
propose it, although he knew that there were among them some who were
none too scrupulous to do a shabby thing if they thought they could
gain any advantage by it.

All this time I had vainly, as I thought, tried to gain any influence
over Matty. She took my gifts, it is true, and wore or otherwise made
use of them; but she never showed the slightest token of pleasure in
them, or uttered one word of acknowledgment, and she was still entirely
unresponsive to any other advances on my part. It was Tony, bright,
jolly little Tony, who thanked me with real Irish effusion, always
greeted me with the broadest of smiles, and testified his gratitude and
appreciation of my efforts for Matty's welfare by various small
offerings, till I really wished I had chosen him to befriend instead of
that hopeless subject, his sister. It b