A crafty idea came to him.

He would throw the bills on the floor and so escape paying them.

No sooner thought than done, and he crumpled the cuffs spitefully as he flung them upon an unusually dirty floor.

Ever the heap grew, and though each bill was duplicated a thousand times, he found only one for two dollars and a half, which was what he owed Maria.
That meant that Maria would not press for payment, and he resolved generously that it would be the only one he would pay; so he began searching through the cast-out heap for hers.

He sought it desperately, for ages, and was still searching when the manager of the hotel entered, the fat Dutchman.