Mr. Brown , in the mean time , had drawn near and thrust his eager visage between those of the other two at the instant that Peter threw up the lid . No sudden blaze illuminated the kitchen . `` What 's here ? '' exclaimed Tabitha , adjusting her spectacles and holding the lamp over the open chest . `` Old Peter Goldthwaite 's hoard of old rags ! '' `` Pretty much so , Tabby , '' said Mr. Brown , lifting a handful of the treasure . Oh what a ghost of dead and buried wealth had Peter Goldthwaite raised to scare himself out of his scanty wits withal ! Here was the semblance of an incalculable sum , enough to purchase the whole town and build every street anew , but which , vast as it was , no sane man would have given a solid sixpence for . What , then , in sober earnest , were the delusive treasures of the chest ? Why , here were old provincial bills of credit and treasury notes and bills of land-banks , and all other bubbles of the sort , from the first issue -- above a century and a half ago -- down nearly to the Revolution . Bills of a thousand pounds were intermixed with parchment pennies , and worth no more than they . `` And this , then , is old Peter Goldthwaite 's treasure ! '' said John Brown . `` Your namesake , Peter , was something like yourself ; and when the provincial currency had depreciated fifty or seventy-five per cent , he bought it up in expectation of a rise . I have heard my grandfather say that old Peter gave his father a mortgage of this very house and land to raise cash for his silly project . But the currency kept sinking till nobody would take it as a gift , and there was old Peter Goldthwaite , like Peter the second , with thousands in his strong-box and hardly a coat to his back . He went mad upon the strength of it . But never mind , Peter ; it is just the sort of capital for building castles in the air . '' `` The house will be down about our ears , '' cried Tabitha as the wind shook it with increasing violence . `` Let it fall , '' said Peter , folding his arms , as he seated himself upon the chest .
`` No , no , my old friend XXXXX ! ''
Goldthwaite Peter Tabby century fall first hoard second strong-box violence