Could they now be suddenly told that he was the millionaire, David Helmsley, they would certainly never believe it.

And even if they were with difficulty brought to believe it, they would possibly resent the deception he had practised on them.

Sometimes he asked himself whether it was quite fair or right to so deceive them?
But then,--reviewing his whole life, and seeing how at every step of his career men, and women too, had flattered him and fawned upon him as well as fooled him for mere money's sake,--he decided that surely he had the right at the approaching end of that career to make a fair and free trial of the world as to whether any thing or any one purely honest could be found in it.
"For it makes me feel more at peace with God," he said--"to know and to realise that there _are_ unselfish loving hearts to be found, if only in the very lowliest walks of life! I,--who have seen Society,--the modern Juggernaut,--rolling its great wheels recklessly over the hopes and joys and confidences of thousands of human beings--I, who know that even kings, who should be above dishonesty, are tainted by their secret speculations in the money-markets of the world,--surely I may be permitted to rejoice for my few remaining days in the finding of two truthful and simple souls, who have no motive for their kindness to me,--who see nothing in me but age, feebleness and poverty,--and whom I have perhaps been the means, through God's guidance, of bringing together.

For it was to me that Reay first spoke that day on the seashore--and it was at my request that he first entered Mary's home.
Can this be the way in which Divine Wisdom has chosen to redeem me?
I,--who have never been loved as I would have desired to be loved,--am I now instructed how,--leaving myself altogether out of the question,--I may prosper the love of others and make two noble lives happy?
It may be so,--and that in the foundation of their joy, I shall win my own soul's peace! So--leaving my treasures on earth,--I shall find my treasure in heaven, 'where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal!'" Still looking at the fire he watched the glowing embers, now reddening, now darkening--or leaping up into sparks of evanescent flame,--and presently stooping, picked up the little dog Charlie from his warm corner on the hearth and fondled him.
"You were the first to love me in my loneliness!" he said, stroking the tiny animal's soft ears--"And,--to be quite exact,--I owe my life and all my present surroundings to you, Charlie! What shall I leave you in my will, eh ?" Charlie yawned capaciously, showing very white teeth and a very red tongue, and winked one bright eye.
"You're only a dog, Charlie! You've no use for money! You rely entirely upon your own attractiveness and the kindness of human nature! And so far your confidence has not been misplaced.

But your fidelity and affection are only additional proofs of the powerlessness of money.
Money bought you, Charlie, no doubt, in the first place--but money failed to keep you! And now, though by your means Mary found me where I lay helpless and unconscious on the hills in the storm, I can neither make you richer nor happier, Charlie! You're only a dog!--and a millionaire is no more to you than any other man!" Charlie yawned comfortably again.