"Hadn't you better hold me tight?" suggested Ralph, with a sarcasm which was entirely lost on the miserly storekeeper.
"Well, I dunno," hesitated Uriah.
"I will see to it that he doesn't run away," said the blacksmith. "This makes me sick, Ralph," he added, in a low tone. "I know you are as innocent as a babe. That post office was robbed by professionals."
The constable and Uriah knocked on the cottage door and Mrs. Nelson let them in. She was greatly surprised when Jack Rodman declared his errand.
"Ralph is indeed innocent!" she exclaimed. "You may search the premises all you please."
The constable and Uriah took a lamp, and the search began. Every nook and corner of the cottage was gone over, but nothing that looked like what had been taken—money and registered letters—came to light.
"I hope you are satisfied now," said Mrs. Nelson, in a tone of half-triumph. "Ralph hasn't a grain of dishonesty in him."
"Let's take a look outside," suggested Uriah. "Maybe he knew better than to bring it in the house."
So outside he and the constable went. They looked around under the stoops and around the woodshed.
"Not a thing," murmured Jack Rodman.