MARGARET TO HER MOTHER.
DEAR MOTHER.—I wept very bitterly on the reception of your letter. How could it occur to you for a single moment, that I had stolen the money? Surely, I would sooner suffer my hand to be cut off, than commit any injustice!
Up stairs I ran to Madame Von Holme, and laid the six gold pieces on the table.
"Your ladyship," said I, "must have given me gold pieces instead of copper kreuzers."
The lady examined the pieces, and appeared very much astonished.
"This," said she, "is no mistake of mine. It is very extraordinary; perhaps some unknown hand, guided by a generous heart, has put the gold into the letter for your mother's use."
"And, dearest lady," said I, "this unknown hand was yours."
"No, indeed," she replied, "I have scarcely any gold at all, and of these new pieces not a single coin."
"But what shall I do, dear lady?" said I.
"Send back the gold to your mother," she replied, "for whom you intended the copper kreuzers; she may, with a safe conscience, apply the money to her own use, and should any mistake have arisen, and any one afterwards claims the gold, I will make it good."