“It is very inconvenient, mother, but we ought to be glad that we have perfect health.  I am young and strong, and I am sure I can find some other way of earning a dollar a week.”

“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

MELINDA MAKES MISCHIEF

“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.  Luke longed to have Miss Sprague go, that he might confer with his mother on this subject.  He had been told to keep the possession of the box secret, and therefore he didn’t wish to reveal the fact that he had it unless it should prove to be necessary.

“Were any traces of the robber discovered?” he added.

“Not that I heard of; but I pity the thief, whoever he is,” remarked Melinda.  “When he’s found out he will go to jail, without any doubt.”

“I can’t understand, for my part, how an outside party could open the safe,” said Mrs. Larkin.  “It seems very mysterious.”

“There’s many things we can’t understand,” said Melinda, shaking her head sagely.  “All crimes are mysterious.”

“I hope they’ll find out who took the bonds,” said the widow.  “Did they belong to the bank?”

“No, they belonged to a gentleman in Cavendish, who kept them in the bank, thinking they would be safer than in his own house.  Little did he know what iniquity there was even in quiet country places like Groveton.”

“Surely, Melinda, you don’t think any one in Groveton robbed the bank?” said Mrs. Larkin.

“There’s no knowing!” said Miss Sprague, solemnly.  “There’s those that we know well, or think we do, but we cannot read their hearts and their secret ways.”