Reuben himself had so understood it, and the verdict was a complete surprise to him.
[Illustration: Reuben Whitney Acquitted of the Charge of Burglary] The constable raised the bar for him to leave the dock, and as he moved out his friend the schoolmaster pushed forward, and shook him warmly by the hand.
"Thank God for that verdict, Reuben.

I am indeed rejoiced, and I own I hardly expected it." "I didn't expect it at all," Reuben said in a choked voice, for his sudden liberation had shaken him, more than his arrest or any of the subsequent proceedings had done.
"I congratulate you heartily, Reuben," Mr.Ellison said, putting his hand on his shoulder.
The squire had waited at Lewes until ten o'clock on the previous evening, and had driven over again the first thing in the morning, so anxious was he about the verdict.
"I didn't believe you guilty this time, my boy, from the first.

I was glad indeed to hear the verdict; for after the judge's summing up, I was sorely uneasy.
"And now, Reuben, I hope," he said, as they entered the street, "that you have quite forgiven me for that old business.

It has been the unfortunate cause of getting you into this affair.

Had it not been for that no one would ever, for a moment, have doubted the truth of your story." "There is nothing to forgive, squire," Reuben said.