She hoped
to make it up with the Larkins.
"I am so glad you are acquitted, Luke," she began effusively.
"I hope, Mrs. Larkin, you won't take offense at what I did.
I did what I thought to be my duty, though with a bleeding heart.
No one is more rejoiced at dear Luke's vindication."
"Miss Sprague," said she, "if you think you did your duty,
let the consciousness of that sustain you. I do not care to
receive any visits from you hereafter."
"How cruel and unfeeling you are, Mrs. Larkin," said the
spinster, putting her handkerchief to her eyes.
Mrs. Larkin did not reply.
Miss Sprague found herself so coldly treated in the village
that she shortly left Groveton on a prolonged visit to some
relatives in a neighboring town. It is to be feared that the
consciousness of having done her duty did not wholly console her.
What she regretted most, however, was the loss of the reward
which she had hoped to receive from the bank.
CHAPTER XV
THE LARKINS ARE lN LUCK
Luke and his mother, accompanied by Roland Reed, took their
way from the court-room to the widow's modest cottage.
"You may take the tin box, Luke," said the stranger, "if you are
not afraid to keep in your charge what has given you so much trouble.
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