"Thank you, Mr. Beane. I shall be very glad to accept your services."
The preliminary proceedings were of a formal character. Then Miss Melinda Sprague was summoned to testify. She professed to be very unwilling to say anything likely to injure her good friends, Luke and his mother, but managed to tell, quite dramatically, how she first caught a glimpse of the tin box.
"Did Mrs. Larkin know that you saw it?" asked the squire.
"She didn't know for certain," answered Melinda, "but she was evidently afraid I would, for she shut the trunk in a hurry, and seemed very much confused. I thought of this directly when I heard of the bank robbery, and I went over to tell Luke and his mother."
"How did they receive your communication?"
"They seemed very much frightened."
"And you inferred that they had not come honestly by the tin box?"
"It grieves me to say that I did," said Melinda, putting her handkerchief to her eyes to brush away an imaginary tear.
Finally Melinda sat down, and witnesses were called to testify to Luke's good character. There were more who wished to be sworn than there was time to hear. Mr. Beane called only Mr. Hooper, Mr. Tomkins and Luke's Sunday-school teacher. Then he called Luke to testify in his own defense.
Luke told a straightforward story—the same that he had told before—replying readily and easily to any questions that were asked him.