Page:Waylaid by Wireless - Balmer - 1909.djvu/21

Rh curious concern for him, he controlled his first impulse and smiled in spite of himself.

The Englishman drew back at this affront. Young Preston stared at him incredulously; then laughed openly.

"I thought you had forgotten yourself, Mr. Dunneston," he returned. "So you were just remembering yourself and I had forgotten!"

"Forgotten, Mr. Preston?" the Briton repeated.

"Yes—you, you English, Mr. Dunneston," Preston explained. "If I had been travelling with any one else but an Englishman and he questioned me at the end of the week on the chances of my being a thief, I would—discourage that as an insult. But, of course, for a travelling Englishman, your query was scarcely personal. Since you have asked for the information, I have 'encountered' this series of crimes at least twice before—at Canterbury and, before that, at Chichester, though they had not yet begun to attract much attention."

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