has been in my hands before. Do you remember the day that
Michael had the sun-stroke?"

"Yes, sir; and your tin box disappeared that day."

"Precisely so; and this bill was in that tin box. Jacob Hasbrook, of
Lincolnville, paid me a note. I put the money in the box, intending to
take it over to the bank before night, and deposit it the next day. I
looked at the bill when I counted the money, and I spoke to Hasbrook
about it. I called it the white cross of Denmark then."

"Where did you get it now?" inquired Nellie, her heart in her throat
with anxiety.

"Mr. Leach, the sail-maker, paid it to me just before you came into the
library."

"Mr. Leach!" exclaimed she, permitting herself to be cheered by a ray of
hope that her father was not working up a case against Donald Ramsay.

"Yes; you remember who were in the library on the day I lost the tin
box."

"I remember very well; for all of you went out and carried Michael into
the house. Besides we talked about the box ever so long. You asked me
who had been in the library while you were up stairs; and I told you Mr.
Hasbrook, Laud Cavendish, and Don John."

"Precisely so; I remember it all very distinctly. Now, one of the bills
that was in that box comes back to me."

"But it was paid to you by Mr. Leach."

"It was; but he had it from Don John half an hour before he paid it to
me."

"Why, father!" exclaimed Nellie, with real anguish; for even a suspicion
against Donald was a shock to her. "I can never believe it!"

"I don't wish you to believe anything yet; but you may as well be
prepared for anything an investigation may disclose."

"That Don John should steal!" ejaculated Nellie. "Why, we all considered
him the very soul of honor!"

"You are getting along faster than I do with your conclusions, child,"
added Captain Patterdale. "A suspicion is not proof. The bill came from
him, beyond a doubt. But something can be said in his favor, besides the
statement that his character is excellent. Of the three persons who were
in the library that day, two of them had wagons on the street. It does
not seem probable that Don John walked through the city with that tin
box in his hand. If he did, some one must have seen it. Of course he
would not have carried it openly, while it could easily have been
concealed in the wagon of Hasbrook or Laud Cavendish."

"Certainly; if Don John had taken it, he would not have dared to carry
it through the streets," added Nellie, com