“I—I think I’ve found something inside this pillow,” Mrs. Myles said in a strange voice.
The Brownies and their mothers quickly closed in about her.
“What have you found?” demanded Veve, for Mrs. Myles had not withdrawn her hand from the interior of the pillow.
“It’s something round—tied with a piece of string,” Mrs. Myles murmured. “I’m—I’m almost afraid to look.”
Now the Brownies thought this a most peculiar attitude to take.
“What have you found?” Veve repeated impatiently. “Show us!”
Very slowly, Mrs. Myles withdrew her hand. Clutched in her gnarled fist was a roll of greenbacks. The bills were neatly fastened in a roll with a piece of string.
“Money!” shrieked Veve in such an excited voice that a squirrel overhead dropped a nut. “Where’d it come from?”
Mrs. Myles held the bills almost as if they would burn a hole in her hand. She leaned back against the oak tree for support.
“I think I know how this came to be inside the pillow,” she said in a shaky voice. “If this roll should contain exactly five hundred dollars, then I’ve done a grave injustice to my brother Sam!”