"
"I have done nothing wrong, sir," said Luke, indignantly. "I am no
more of a thief than you are."
"Do you mean to insult me, you young jackanapes?" demanded Mr.
Duncan, with an angry flush on his face.
"I intend to insult no one, but I claim that I have done nothing
wrong."
"That is what all criminals say," sneered the squire.
Luke was about to make an angry reply, but Mr. Beane, waving his
hand as a signal for our hero to be quiet, remarked calmly: "I
think, Duncan, in justice to Luke, we ought to hear his story as
to how the box came into his possession."
"That is my opinion," said Mr. Bailey. "I don't believe Luke
is a bad boy."
Prince Duncan felt obliged to listen to that suggestion, Mr.
Bailey and Mr. Beane being men of consideration in the village.
"Young man," he said, "we are ready to hear your story. From whom
did you receive this box?"
"From a man named Roland Reed," answered Luke.
The four visitors looked at each other in surprise.
"And who is Roland Reed?" asked the president of the bank. "It seems
very much like a fictitious name."
"It may be, for aught I know," said Luke, "but it is the name given
me by the person who gave me the box to keep for him."
"State the circumstances," said Mr. Beane.
"About two weeks since I was returning from the house of Miss Almira
Clark, where I had gone on an errand for my mother. To shorten
my journey, I took my way through the woods.
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