, squire. The case is plain, and I can manage it myself."

"I represent the defendant," said the young lawyer Conway.

"You are a lawyer, are you?" asked Squire Marlowe, frowning.

"Yes, sir."

"Have you any evidence or certificate to show this?"

"I can prove it, if necessary; but I will venture to suggest that your
doubts on the subject are very singular, and that, lawyer or no lawyer,
I am at liberty to appear for the defendant if he desires it."

Squire Marlowe coughed and looked displeased at this remark.

"State your case, Mr. Jones," he said, after the latter had been sworn.

The grocer told the story as it happened, making it bear as heavily
against Bert as possible.

"Do you wish to ask the witness any questions, Mr. Conway," inquired the
judge.

"Yes, sir. Mr. Jones, what makes you think my client took your
twenty-dollar bill?"

"It stands to reason--" commenced the grocer.

"Never mind about that! Please stick to facts."

"Well, the bill disappeared."

"Admitted. Go on."

"The Barton boy was standing near the desk."

"Did you see him take it?"

"No; how could I? My back was turned."

"This is important. Then, so far as your knowledge goes, any other
person may have taken the bill."

"Didn't I tell you that the boy was brazen enough to offer me the same
bill in payment for some kerosene which I got for him?"

"You are very sure it was the same bill, are you, Mr. Jones?" asked
Conway carelessly.

"Why, of course it was."

"That won't do! How can you prove it was?"

"Because," said the grocer triumphantly, "the bill I lost was a
twenty-dollar bill, and the bill the boy offered me was a twenty-dollar
bill," and Mr. Jones looked around the court-room with a complacent and
triumphant smile. Squire Marlowe, judge though he was, gave a little
nod, as if to show that he, too, thought the argument was unanswerable.
Even Bert's friends in the court-room glanced at each other gravely. It
certainly looked bad for our hero.

CHAPTER XV.

BERT'S TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION.

"You have not answered my question, Mr. Jones," persisted the young
lawyer.

"I rather think I have," said the grocer, looking around him
triumphantly.

"But not satisfactorily. I ask you again, how do you know that the
twenty-dollar bill tendered you by my client was the same bill which you
left on the desk?"

"It stands to reason----"

"Stop there! That is no answer."

"It seems to me you're mighty particu