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Rh her seriously. "I beg pardon, Miss Varris," he repeated, after pondering a moment. "And, I say, I would not ask it, you know, but Mr. Preston is in the cabin with me, you know. He bought the other half just by chance, and, I say, I'm glad to have him with me, of course. Jolly that, we two together, what? But I say, you know, when you came up a bit ago, Miss Varris, you addressed Mr. Preston as 'Prisoner.' I say, I hope he hasn't been jailed a bit anywhere, has he? You were not seriously in jail, I hope, Mr. Preston?" he turned with concern to the young American.

"Oh, not tried, condemned, and in stripes—I mean in the funny arrow-marked suits your convicts wear, Mr. Dunneston," the girl corrected. "He was just arrested at Polporru that morning and detained a short time under suspicion."

"At Polporru?" the Englishman repeated. "You mean he was arrested," he exclaimed incredulously, "between the time I left you at the station and—and when I saw him off 210