Unlike the gold which needed nothing, and must be worshipped in close-locked solitude—which was hidden away from the daylight, was deaf to the songs of birds, and started to no human tones—Eppie was a creature of endless claims and ever-growing desires, seeking and loving sunshine, and living sounds, and living movements; making  trial of everything, with   trust in new joy, and stirring the human kindness in all eyes that looked  on her.  The gold had kept his thoughts in an ever-repeated circle, leading to nothing  beyond itself, but Eppie was an object compacted of changes and hopes that forced his thoughts onward, and carr ied them far away  …

“From Silas Marner” by George Eliot

Lovelorn and outcast Silas contrasted the effect of the gold that he had hoarded over the years of banishment with that of his adopted little girl who had wandered into his life from her mother’s dead body.  The lady had accidentally died near his cabin.