"
"At any rate, we will hope so, Luke."
Luke went to bed early that night. The next morning, as they
were sitting at breakfast, Melinda Sprague rushed into the house
and sank into a chair, out of breath.
"Have you heard the news?"
"No. What is it?"
"The bank has been robbed! A box of United States bonds
has been taken, amounting to thirty or forty thousand dollars!"
Luke and his mother listened in amazement.
CHAPTER X
MELlNDA MAKES MlSCHlEF
"Where did you hear this, Melinda?" asked Mrs. Larkin.
"I called on Mrs. Duncan just now--I was doing some work
for her--and she told me. Isn't it awful?"
"Was the bank broken open last night, Miss Sprague?" asked Luke.
"I don't know when it was entered."
"I don't understand it at all," said Luke, looking puzzled.
"All I know is that, on examining the safe, the box of bonds
was missing."
"Then it might have been taken some time since?"
"Yes, it might."
The same thought came to Luke and his mother at once.
Was the mysterious stranger the thief, and had he robbed the
bank and transferred the tin box to Luke? It might be so, but,
as this happened more than a fortnight since, it would have been
strange in that case that the box had not been missed sooner
at the bank.
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