"
"You were very sparing of my feelings," said Armstrong,
dryly--"too much so. I am not a child or an old woman, and it
was your imperative duty, in a matter so nearly affecting my
interests, to apprise me at once."
"I may have erred in judgment," said Duncan meekly, "but
I beg you to believe that I acted as I supposed for the best."
"Leaving that out of consideration at present, let me know
what steps you have taken to find out how the box was spirited
away, or who was concerned in the robbery."
"I think that you will admit that I acted promptly," said the
bank president complacently, "when I say that within twenty-
four hours I arrested a party on suspicion of being implicated
in the robbery, and tried him myself."
"Who was the party?" asked the capitalist, not betraying the
knowledge he had already assessed on the subject.
"A boy in the village named Luke Larkin."
"Humph! What led you to think a boy had broken into the bank?
That does not strike me as very sharp on your part."
"I had positive evidence that the boy in question had a tin
box concealed in his house--in his mother's trunk. His poverty
made it impossible that the box could be his, and I accordingly
had him arrested.
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