Dean sat down to think. He was puzzled by the discovery of the wallet, for he had looked in the very spot where it was found before the squire's arrival, and seen nothing. It looked as if the squire had produced it from an inner pocket, and thrown it down before picking it up, and announced its discovery.
"There is something very queer about all this!" said Dean to himself, as he walked slowly homeward.
CHAPTER IX.
THE SQUIRE'S BOLD STROKE.
"That boy evidently suspects me," thought Renwick Bates, contracting his forehead. "He is altogether too smart. With the help of his uncle, whose suspicions are already excited, he may make me trouble. I must take a bold course, and make the accusations look ridiculous."
Squire Bates kept on his way till he reached Rockmount, and drove at once to the office of Thomas Marks.
"How do you do, Squire Bates?" asked the agent politely.
"Very well, thank you. I suppose you have heard of the robbery?"
"To what do you allude?"