tify me in going with you to-morrow to Lincoln?"
"I said," the girl replied, "that I certainly consider it far more sufficient than anything Mrs. Thorne could tell us—which would have sent you with us with a light heart."
"But you don't know of me even that I know Mrs. Thorne, or that I have written her."
The girl laughed lightly again.
"Really, Mr. Preston," she mocked, "if it weren't that Mr. Dunneston has put me on my mettle and committed me to proving myself right, I would now doubt you myself, almost."
"Tell me this, Miss Varris," the American said, "suppose that this night other Americans were robbed here in Ely—to make the test stronger, suppose you yourselves, whom I alone know to be carrying a good deal of money, were robbed in this inn to-night—would you be willing to have me go on with you to-morrow and travel with you?"
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