Nello held the leather bag in his hand.
He had never seen so much money before.
He put the bag in his shirt and patted Patrasche on the head.
Nello walked straight toward the mill.
He knocked on the front door.
The miller's wife opened the door.
Alois stood behind her.
Both looked very upset.
"What is it, Nello?" Alois asked.
"Go before my father sees you!"
"Master Cogez is in a terrible mood tonight," the miller's wife said.
"He dropped some money and, in this snow, he will never find it.
It was all our savings," she sobbed.
Nello stepped inside and gave the leather bag to the miller's wife.
He called Patrasche into the house.
"Patrasche found the money in the snow," Nello said.
"Tell Master Cogez to please look after Patrasche.
I can't take care of him anymore."
Nello bent down to kiss Patrasche good-bye.
Then he quickly closed the door and disappeared into the night.
The miller's wife and daughter were speechless.
Patrasche went to the door and whined.
He wanted to follow Nello, but the door was closed.
Alois and her mother tried to comfort Patrasche.
They brought him milk and a big bone.
They gave him a blanket to lie on near the warm fire. Nothing worked.
Patrasche sat stubbornly by the door and would not move.
At six o'clock the miller came home.
He looked very tired and his face was sad.
"The money is lost forever," he said.
"I took a lantern and looked everywhere, but it's gone.
Some of that money was for Alois' future.
I'm so sorry, Alois."
His wife put the money into his hands and told him the story.
The miller walked to a chair by the fire.
He sat down and covered his face, ashamed.
"I have been cruel to the boy," he muttered.
"I don't deserve his goodness."
Little Alois crept close to her father.
"Can Nello come here again, Father?" she whispered bravely.
"Can he come and play tomorrow, like he used to?"
The miller hugged his daughter tightly.
His lips trembled with emotion.
"Yes, of course Nello can play with you," the miller said.
"He can come here on Christmas Day, and any day of the year.
I have treated Nello very badly.
I must make it up to him."
Little Alois kissed her father with joy.
She ran to where Patrasche sat by the door.
Patrasche was still waiting and hoping that Nello would return.
They had never spent a night apart.
"And tonight may I give Patrasche lots of food?"
she asked, giving the dog a hug.
Her father looked at her.
The stubbornness had washed from his face.
"Yes, yes. Let the dog have the best food," he said.
The miller sat with his head in his hand and was quiet for a long time.
He thought about his actions over and over.
Nello was only fifteen years old and had nothing.
"Even so," the miller thought, "he is a better man than me."