“Please give me the bundle which I left with you some time ago,” said the stranger.
“The bundle! I do not remember your giving me a bundle. When did you leave it here?”
Mr So started when the stranger mentioned a date years before, and turned to question his men, none of whom could remember the old man or his bundle.
The stranger pressed Mr So to have the shop carefully searched, saying that the package which he had left for safe keeping had some slips of gold inside it, and it would be a terrible loss to him if they could not find it.
“We know nothing about the bundle, or what was in it, venerable grand-uncle, but if you left it here, you shall certainly have it back again,” said Mr So.
After diligent search the bundle was found upon a shelf in the strong room at the back of the shop.
The old man’s eyes glittered as he undid the fastenings of the bundle, now black with dust and cobwebs. Carefully he turned over the things inside it, laying them one by one upon the counter. There was a clatter and fall of metal. “The gold is here safe enough,” said the stranger, taking up the dull yellow slips with his thin fingers. “One, two, three,” he numbered slowly, “four, five, six,” counting until the full tale was reached. The old man put back the gold, and did up his bundle in silence. Then he lifted his head.
“You are an honest man, Mr So,” said he. “You have indeed been faithful in the trust which I committed to you so long ago.”
“What have I done?” answered Mr So. “The bundle has lain just as you left it,” and with that he bowed low.
The old man waited. Then he spoke again.