What happens to Silas Marner’s lost gold?

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Portrait drawing of George Eliot, pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, with wavy dark hair, lace collar, and a calm expression, based on an 1865 work by Sir Frederic William Burton. — George Eliot George Eliot, engraving derived from a chalk drawing (1865) by Sir Frederic William Burton.

In the novel Silas Marner by George Eliot, the protagonist’s hoard of gold is stolen, which leaves him devastated and isolated. The mystery of the gold is eventually resolved when the thief, Dunstan Cass, is found dead in the stone pits near Silas’s cottage many years later. His body is discovered alongside the long-lost bag of gold, which is finally returned to Silas.1

This discovery occurs long after Silas has moved past his obsession with material wealth, having found a deeper sense of purpose and redemption through raising his adopted daughter, Eppie.1