The creature’s quick movement had dislodged something on the shelf and it fell clinking against a stone.
With a cry of amazement Adele stooped and picked up a gold piece.
“Quick, bring a stool, somebody!” she called. “I’ll climb up and see what is on that ledge.”
“The miser’s gold!”
“The miser’s gold!” she declared, as she handed Bertha a bag. The chipmunk, hoping to find nuts, had gnawed a hole in it. The girls gathered around were scarcely able to believe their eyes. “Here’s a piece of brown paper,” Adele said, “and there’s writing on it!”
The writing in places was very hard to read, but at last they made it out, and Adele read aloud:
“To whoever finds this money, I wish to say that it wasn’t come by honest. It hasn’t brought me any happiness and I don’t want it. I’d give it back to the folks who own it, if I knew who they was, but I don’t. I’m going back to the town where I was a boy and I’m going to live straight.”
“I’m so disappointed,” Adele announced. “I thought of the Quigleys at once, and how it would help them, but they would not want stolen money.”
“I’ll tell you what,” said Gertrude Willis. “Let’s take it to father with the note and ask his advice. Perhaps it would help to right the wrong if the money were used for some good purpose.”