CHAPTER VII
A SAD LETTER
April fool was something Mrs. Bunker had not thought of as she looked atthe pocketbook lying on the sidewalk. As Rose had said, it did seem tohave money in it, but perhaps it might be stuffed with paper.
Then, too, there might be a string tied to the wallet, and boys, hiddensomewhere near, might pull on the string and yank the pocketbook awayjust as soon as any one stooped over to pick it up. Still Mrs. Bunkersaid to Rose:
"This is too late for April fool. This is August, and no boys wouldthink of playing such tricks now."
"Maybe not, Mother," Rose agreed. "I just thought maybe that was what itwas there for. But I'll pick it up. I hope it's got a lot of money init!"
With shining eyes Rose stooped to pick up the purse.
"Open it, Rose, and see what is inside," said Mrs. Bunker. "We may findout the name of the owner, and, if she lives around here--for it lookslike a lady's pocketbook--we can take it to her."
"But we don't know the streets, Mother," said Rose.
"We can ask a policeman. If we find the name of the owner, and it is toofar for us to go where she lives, we can give the pocketbook to thepoliceman and he will deliver it for us. But open it and see what is init," returned Mrs. Bunker.
The pocketbook opened easily enough, and as Rose turned back the flapshe gave a cry of surprise.
"What's the matter?" asked the excited child's mother.
"Oh! Oh, it's just _full_ of money!" cried the little girl. "It's piledfull of money, Mother! Look!"
She hurried to her mother's side with the opened pocketbook. Surelyenough, when Mrs. Bunker looked, she saw a roll of green bills. Justhow many were in the pocketbook she could not tell.
"Well, this is quite a find!" said Rose's mother. "The person who lostthis will feel bad about it. We must try to find the owner."
"Oh, can't I keep it?" asked Rose.
"Of course not," said her mother. "Whenever we find anything we must tryto discover the owner and give the lost thing back. If you lost yourdoll you'd want whoever found her to give her back; wouldn't you?"
"Oh, of course, Mother! But Sue--she isn't a _pocketbook_ full ofmoney."
"No," agreed Mrs. Bunker with a smile. "If Russ were here I suppose he'dsay your doll was full of sawdust. However, no matter what it is, wemust give back whatever we have found if we can find the owner. Ofcourse, after we have tried hard, if we can't discover who lost whateverwe have found, we may keep it."
"How can we tell who lost this pocketbook and all the money?" askedRose.
"We'll look inside, and we'll also count the money," said her mother.
"Maybe it's a hundred dollars!" exclaimed the little girl, her eyesshining brightly.
"Perhaps it may be," said Mrs. Bunker. "But we won't count it out hereon the street. We have nearly finished shopping, so we will take thepocketbook home with us, and show it to Daddy and Aunt Jo."
Rose had the wallet open, looking at the roll of bills inside. Now hermother gently took it from her and closed it.
"What made you do that?" asked Rose.
"Because the wind might blow some of the money out," was the answer,"and then we could not give it all back to the poor person who owns it."
"What makes you think the pocketbook is a poor person's?" asked Rose,who was asking almost as many questions as would her sister Vi had shebeen there.
"Well, the pocketbook is rather a shabby one, even though it seems tohave quite a lot of money in it," said Mrs. Bunker, as she put it awayin her own shopping bag. "The leather is worn and it is torn. But wewill go over it more carefully when we get home."
Rose could hardly wait to get back to Aunt Jo's house to look fartherinto the pocketbook and see what it held. No one on the street had paidthe slightest attention to Rose and her mother when the wallet had beenfound, and no policeman was in sight who could be asked about it. SoMrs. Bunker thought the best thing to do was to take it with her andexamine it later.
When Aunt Jo's house was reached Laddie, Vi and Russ had about finishedwatering the lawn. They had watered themselves a little, also, for theywere so eager, and took so many turns with the hose that it splashed onthem.
But the day was warm, and, as they had on their old clothes, theirfather did not mind, as long as they did not get too wet.
"Oh, we had lots of fun!" cried Russ as he saw his mother and Rosecoming along.
"We had a dandy time!" added Laddie.
"You don't know what I found!" cried Rose, not thinking so much abouther brothers' fun with the hose as she was about what had happened toherself and her mother. "I found something!"
"What?" asked Vi.
"Was it a little kittie?" asked Mun Bun, who, with Margy, had finishedplaying in the sand pile.
"No, it wasn't a kittie, though I wish I could find one," said Rose.
"Did you find a new riddle?" Laddie wanted to know. He thought more ofriddles than of many other things that most boys like.
"No, it wasn't a riddle," answered Rose. "You'd never guess, so I'lltell you. I found a pocketbook, and maybe it's got two hundred dollarsin it! So there!"
"Oh, you did not! Did she, Mother?" asked Russ, in surprise at what hissister had said.
"Yes, Rose did find a pocketbook," answered Mrs. Bunker. "It was lyingon the sidewalk in front of us. But whether it has two hundred dollarsin it, or only one hundred, I don't know yet."
"Where is it? Where is it?" cried Vi over and over.
"In my bag. We really did make quite a find," she went on to her husbandand Aunt Jo, who came out on the porch just then. "Look!" and Mrs.Bunker took the purse out of her shopping bag, handing it over to herhusband.
"See if you can find out who owns it," she suggested.
"And if nobody owns it I'm going to keep it for mine," said Rose.
"Can she, Mother?" Russ wanted to know.
"Well, we'll see," said Mrs. Bunker.
Meanwhile her husband was opening the pocketbook. He saw the roll ofbills and whistled.
"Well, there's some money here, anyhow," he said. "I'll count it first,so we'll know just how much it is."
Mr. Bunker was used to counting over bills. He could not do it quite asfast, perhaps, as the cashier in a bank, but he soon had spread out themoney in a chair in front of him on the porch, and he said:
"There are just sixty-five dollars here."
"Sixty-five!" exclaimed Rose. "I thought it was two hundred."
"Is sixty-five dollars much money?" asked Vi.
"Well, sixty-five dollars is a lot of money if you lose it," said herfather. "And whoever lost this will be very glad to get it back, you maybe sure."
"Is there anything else in the pocketbook to tell who may own it?" askedMrs. Bunker.
"No, there doesn't seem to be anything but just the roll of bills," heanswered. "Hold on, though!" he exclaimed, as he looked in another partof the pocketbook, "here is some sort of a paper."
"That may have the owner's name on it," said Aunt Jo. "I always carry inmy purse a slip with my name and address on it, so if I lose mypocketbook whoever finds it will know where to bring it back. Probablythat is what this is."
"No, it doesn't seem to be," said Mr. Bunker. "This appears to be partof a letter. Of course it isn't nice to read letters that are for otherpeople, but as we are trying to find out to whom this money andpocketbook belong it will be all right. I'll read this."
He took out a folded paper from a compartment in the pocketbook next towhere the money had been, and began to read. He read it aloud. It said:
"DEAR MOTHER: I am so glad you have the sixty-five dollars, for then you will not have to work so hard, and can take a little rest. It was so good of Uncle Jack to send it to you. I feel so much better now that you have this money. You will not have to worry so much. I am working hard myself, but I like it, and I will save all I can and send all I can spare to you. Take good care of the money and d
on't lose it, for you may never have as much again. I am very lonesome and wish I could see you, but I know the rest will do you good. With lots of love."
"Is that all?" asked Mrs. Bunker, as her husband stopped reading.
"That is all," he said.
"Isn't there any name or address to that little letter?" Aunt Jo wantedto know.
"No, nothing like that," answered her brother. "The only name in it is'Uncle Jack,' and that might mean anybody. There must have been a namesigned to the letter, but it has been torn off. You can see where thepaper has been torn across. I don't see how we can find who owns themoney from this letter."
"Maybe there is something else in the pocketbook," said Russ.
Mr. Bunker looked, and did find a Chinese coin with a square hole in it.There was only the letter, addressed to "Dear Mother," and thesixty-five dollars, and the Chinese coin.
"We'll have to put an advertisement in the paper, saying we have found apocketbook," said Mr. Bunker. "Whoever has lost it will see theadvertisement and call here. And we must look in the 'lost and found'advertisements in the paper to-night."
"Yes, we'll do that," said Aunt Jo. "The poor woman must be very sadover her loss. She will be very glad to get it back, and----"
Just then the telephone in Aunt Jo's house gave a loud ring.
"Oh," cried Rose. "Maybe that's some one now to ask about the pocketbookI found. Oh, maybe it is!"