“I didn’t have time to think things to a conclusion,” the tramp said lamely. “As I was looking at the photograph, a woman came into the house to do some work. Seeing her, I got panicky and fled.”
“With the money.”
“Yes, I kept it. But right away, my conscience began to bother me. I’d never stolen anything before. The last thing I wanted to do was take money from my own relative.
“I made up my mind I’d return it and then try to get Merrimac to help me.”
“What changed your mind?”
“Everything worked against me. First I made the mistake of hiding the money box in the empty church. It was my bad luck that the Cub Scouts had a meeting there before I had a chance to get it back again.”
“You were the man we met on the street that night in the rain!” Dan identified him.
“Sure, I asked you what was going on. That was the first I knew the church had been reopened.”
“Then later you peeked through the church window!”
“I saw a light in the basement first,” the tramp explained. “That gave me a real scare. But I had a worse jolt when I saw you kids had found the money and were counting it.”