If you only knew how hard I find it to refrain from telling you all,
where I am and what adventures I have met with, how I came near
being robbed twice, and many other things, you would appreciate my
self-denial. But you shall know all very soon. I have had a good
time--the best time in my life. Let mother read this letter, and
believe me, dear Lin,
"Your affectionate friend,
"LUKE LARKIN."
Linton's curiosity was naturally excited by the references in
Luke's letter.
"Where can Luke be?" he asked. "I wish he were at liberty to tell."
Linton never dreamed, however, that his friend was two thousand
miles away, in the wild West. It would have seemed to him utterly
improbable.
He was folding up the letter as he was walking homeward, when he
met Randolph Duncan.
"What's that, Linton?" he asked. "A love-letter?"
"Not much; I haven't got so far along. It is a letter from
Luke Larkin."
"Oh!" sneered Randolph. "I congratulate you on your correspondent.
Is he in New York?"
"The letter is postmarked in New York, but he is traveling."
"Traveling? Where is he traveling?"
"He doesn't say. This letter is forwarded by Mr. Reed."
"The man who robbed the bank?"
"What makes you say that? What proof have you that he robbed the
bank?"
"I can't prove it, but my father thinks he is the robber. There
was something very suspicious about that tin box which he handed
to Luke."
"It was opened in court, and proved to contain private papers.
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