What agreement does Tom Walker make with the devil in "The Devil and Tom Walker"?

The Devil, or Old Scratch as he is called in the story, initially tries to persuade Tom to become a slave-trader.  Tom says that even the Devil himself could not persuade him to partake of such an enterprise, which is a reflection of the Romantic writer's awareness of and belief in democracy.  What Tom ultimately agrees to is to become a usurer, one who lends money at exhorbitant interest rates.  He trades his soul for a guarantee that he will be rich.  Once he gains his riches, he spends the rest of his life looking over his shoulder wondering when the Devil will come to collect his part of the debt.  He tries going to church as penance for what he has done, but inevitably, the Devil comes and collects on his deal and carries Tom away on horseback.

What agreement does Tom Walker make with the devil in "The Devil and Tom Walker"?

Tom Walker lives an unhappy existence.  He and his wife are at odds fighting about money and even try to cheat each other out of the small amount of money they have.  One day when Tom is walking in the woods, he comes across an Indian fort where he sees a skull with a tomahawk buried in it.  He kicks it, and the devil appears.  The devil tells him that he will exchange a vast treasure for Tom's soul.  Tom refuses the devil's offer, and when he tells his wife of the encounter, she begs him to reconsider the deal.  Because he hates his wife, he refuses to try to find the devil again.  Tom's wife is infuriated and decides to find the Indian fort and the devil herself.  Tom's wife goes missing, and Tom finds her hanging from a tree near the fort.  She has died fighting the devil for the treasure.  Tom is happy his wife is dead, and after a while decides he will again seek out the devil.  When they meet again, the devil decides to give Tom the money if Tom will use the treasure for evil.  The devil suggests he become a slave trader, but Tom decides he will be a moneylender who charges high interests for loans.  Although Tom is economically successful, Tom eventually regrets the pact he made.  He becomes very religious in hopes of saving his soul.  Unfortunately, even his religious fanaticism doesn't cause him to end his dirty dealings as a moneylender.  One day the devil comes to take his soul, and Tom is put on a horse and escourted out of town and taken to hell.  

"The Devil and Tom Walker" is a tale of how one will give up their own soul and do dispicable things for money and riches.  

What agreement does Tom Walker make with the devil in "The Devil and Tom Walker"?

During Tom Walker's first meeting with Old Scratch, the Devil proceeds to tell Tom that all the pirate's buried treasure is under his command and protected by his power. Old Scratch also informs Tom Walker that he could attain some of the treasure if he agrees to certain conditions. Irving does not go into specifics, but it is implied that the Devil offers to make Tom Walker an extremely wealthy man in exchange for his soul. Old Scratch then gives Tom his signature as proof of his offer by pressing his finger to Tom's forehead before he leaves the swamp.

After Tom's wife hears about his meeting with the Devil, she tries to make a deal with Old Scratch but disappears, never to be seen again. Tom then visits the Devil for a second time, and the two begin to haggle over the terms and conditions of their agreement. The Devil insists that the money found through his means must be employed in his service. Initially, the Devil suggests that Tom use the money to participate in the slave trade, which is an idea that Tom finds repulsive and adamantly refuses to do.

However, Tom ends up agreeing to use the money he acquires from the Devil to become an unscrupulous, greedy usurer. Tom also agrees to open a broker's shop in Boston the following month and extort bonds, foreclose mortgages, and "drive the merchants to bankruptcy." Overall, the Devil agrees to make Tom Walker a wealthy man in exchange for his soul, under the condition that Tom uses his newfound wealth to drive hard bargains as a greedy, immoral usurer.

What agreement does Tom make with the devil in "The Devil and Tom Walker"?

When Tom Walker initially meets Old Scratch in the swamp, the devil tells him about Kidd's buried treasure and informs Tom that nobody will be able to discover the buried money, because it is under his protection. The devil then offers to place the money within Tom's reach under "certain conditions." While Irving never directly states the terms of their agreement, it is implied that the devil offers Tom the buried treasure in exchange for his soul. Tom does not initially accept the devil's offer and meets with him once again after his wife disappears. In their second meeting, Tom haggles with the devil about the terms of their agreement, because the devil insists that the buried treasure is used to advance his evil agenda. Initially, the devil wants Tom to be a slave trader, but Tom refuses. Tom finally agrees to be a usurer and ends up taking advantage of people with financial difficulties by foreclosing on their mortgages. Tom also agrees to sell his soul to the devil to become wealthy. Tom and Old Scratch strike a deal and Tom lives his life as a wealthy, callous man until the devil visits him to take his soul.

What does Tom's agreement with the devil tell you about Tom?

Tom Walker makes a pact with the devil to become rich.  It's clear that Tom Walker is greedy, selfish, and that he lives for the present with little thought about the future.  He is only slightly hesitant to make the pact and only slightly bothered by the fact that he was speaking with the devil.  When his wife disappears his concern was for the valuable items she took with her and not for her well-being.  When he finds the items she took with her and what appears to be her heart and liver, he is happy that he recovered the items.  Obviously, he has more concern for his possessions than he does for his wife.  When he makes his money and the devil finally comes and it's time for Tom to fulfill his end of the bargain, Tom "...shrank back...", indicating that he didn't want to fulfill his part.  He had no choice in the matter though.  Tom Walker only wanted money, what his money could give him, and he didn't think about the consequences of his actions beyond the present time.

What offer and exchange does the devil make in "The Devil and Tom Walker"?

Sometimes referred to as the "comic Doctor Faustus" after von Goethe's novel Faust, in which an aspiring scholar makes a pact with the devil in exchange for unlimited knowledge, Irving's "The Devil and Tom Walker" is based on New England legend where Quakers and Puritans put great emphasis upon religious piety and the retribution paid to unscrupulous sinners.

Because Tom Walker's wife is a termagant, he often leaves the house for
distant parts of the neighborhood." One day, Tom decides to take a quick way home; however, this trek through the swamp proves a poor choice as he becomes mired in swamp and tangled in brush. As Tom rests upon a log after finally reaching an old fort, he hears strange noises and spots an Indian skull with a rusted tomahawk buried into it. As Tom examines it, he hears a gruff voice yell, "Let that skull alone!" A strange man, dark, but not an Indian, emerges, dressed in Indian garb with coarse black hair, red eyes, and carries an ax over his shoulder. In talking with the figure that Tom recognizes as "Old Scratch," or the devil, Tom feels the devil's finger burn into his forehead as proof. Old Scratch tells Tom of Captain Kidd's treasure of gold buried under an oak tree and makes an offer to Tom that is dependent upon a certain condition, a condition that, although not overtly stated, suggests that Tom must sell his soul to the devil as in Goethe's Faust.

Tom requests time to consider this offer because 

...he was determined not to do so to oblige his wife; so he flatly refused, out of the mere spirit of contradition.

Therefore, when he tells his wife about his adventures and stirs her avarice, Tom refuses to sell his soul in order to please her.

Does Tom Walker agree to the devil's pact for the money?

When Tom Walker first encounters "Old Scratch" as he is commonly called, they have a long conversation, but even though the devil offers to place wealth within Tom's power, Tom refuses the conditions because

He was determined not to do so to oblige his wife; so he flatly refused, out of the mere spirit of contradiction.

Tom determines not to please his "termagant wife"; so, the more she talks, the more he becomes resolute not to "be damned to please her." Angered by her husband, Tom's wife decides to drive the bargain with the devil herself, and sets out with the silver teapot and spoons in her apron.  However, when she does not return, Tom ventures out to learn the fate of his wife.  What he finds is her apron in a tree with a vulture hovering over it; inside the apron are her liver and heart.

Finally, Tom encouters the black man in the woods one evening and they haggle over the terms of the "pirate's treasure."  In addition to asking for Tom's soul, Old Scratch demands that Tom become a slave trader, but Tom refuses because this is even below his moral code.  Then, the devil suggests that Tom become a usurer, a position that appeals to Tom's "tastes."  Thus, they shake hands and strike their bargain, and Tom makes a fortune in the great speculating fever which soon breaks out in the country.  Tom soon becomes a rich and powerful man.  Of course, as he ages, Tom has a "lurking dread that the Devil, after all, would have his due."  And, he does.