All of the Brownies and Miss Gordon were listening attentively to the story.
“Yes, I never could understand why my father had so little faith in me that he would make such an accusation. Perhaps it was because I was a heavy spender of my earnings in those days. Easy come—easy go, was my motto then. I’ve since reformed.”
“You say five hundred dollars vanished?” Miss Cordon asked thoughtfully. “Was it never recovered.”
“Never. My father was sure I had taken it because no one except my sister and myself had been in the house.”
“Maybe someone broke in,” suggested Rosemary.
Mr. Vincent smiled and shook his head. “My father almost never left the house in those days. He was old and ailing. In fact, the feeling that I had taken his money was an obsession with him.”
“He died without learning that you were honest?” asked Veve, deeply troubled.
“Yes,” the carpenter replied. “I should have told you that my father ordered me out of the house. Instead of trying to reason with him, I packed up and left.”
“Your sister didn’t take your part?” Miss Gordon questioned.
“Far from it. Minnie sided with my father. After he died, she married and moved to this house. Her husband never was well-to-do, and he also passed on a few years ago. About all Minnie had was this house and the furniture—most of that came from the old homestead.”