would have been for him to slip the wallet, or the package, whatever it was, into my pocket when I was not looking.”
“That thing has been done in a hundred and fifty novels and stories, but it isn’t done every day in Burlington. If Tim Lingerwell wanted the money bad enough to steal it, he wouldn’t put it into your pocket.”
“He isn’t any too good to do such a thing. He and Hack belong in Genverres; and people here wouldn’t trust either of them with a pewter quarter,” argued Mr. Millweed.
“Perhaps you are right: I don’t know. You have given yourself away, and made it look bad for you. If Tim Lingerwell took the money, what did he do with it?”
“That’s more than I know. He has the care of the safe, and he and I were the only persons who had been near it when Mr. Longbrook came in for the money. I know I did not take it; and if I didn’t, he did. That’s the whole of it.”
Dory believed his passenger had been a fool to run away; but, without knowing why, he could not help believing that he was telling the truth.
“Where did you get the sloop in which you
came up the lake?” he asked. “You said she did not belong to you.”
“She belongs to Sim Green, a friend of mine, who lives next door to me. He was going down to Burlington to stay a few days with his uncle. Money is a scarce article in our family, and I had none to pay my fare by railroad. I was going to walk; but, at Sim’s invitation, I went down in his sloop. When I left the store, I went down to the boat, and got into it. Then I thought I would go home, and tell my father and mother what had happened.”
“Then you took the boat without leave?”