wins the lottery and she and McTeague come into a sizable sum of money ($5000), Marcus begins to regret his earlier behavior. At the very end of chapter seven, for instance, he exclaims to himself,

"You fool, you fool, Marcus Schouler! If you'd kept Trina you'd have had that money. You might have had it yourself. You've thrown away your chance in life—to give up the girl, yes—but this," he stamped his foot with rage—"to throw five thousand dollars out of the window—to stuff it into the pockets of someone else, when it might have been yours, when you might have had Trina and the money—and all for what? Because we were pals. Oh, 'pals' is all right—but five thousand dollars—to have played it right into his hands—God damn the luck!"

Here Marcus’s desire for the money seems more important than his friendship with McTeague.

Later, McTeague notices that Marcus is beginning to behave with coolness toward him. At one point Marcus even tells McTeague that he wants to be repaid for the “four bits” (four quarters; one dollar) he once gave McTeague. He even implies that McTeague should pay him for the use of a room Marcus had offered McTeague to sleep in.

Later still, Marcus’s thoughts about the “lost” $5000 lead him to attack McTeague verbally:

"If I had my rights," cried Marcus, bitterly, "I'd have part of that money. It's my due—it's only justice. If it hadn't been for me . . . you wouldn't have had a cent of it—no, not a cent. Where's my share, I'd like to know?"

Immediately after this outburst, Marcus continues to complain about the money he thinks is rightfully his. His obsession continues, in fa ct, until the very final pages of the book, where his fixation on the cash ultimately leads not only to his own death but also to the probable death of McTeague as well.