"Oh—that's obvious, isn't it, Mr. Dunneston?" the American answered impatiently.
"But you did not continue about the cathedral towns?"
"No." The American smiled in spite of himself as he saw the Englishman frankly staring at him in slowly comprehending scrutiny and pondering over this puzzle.
"I sa-ay!" the Briton began cautiously, as he watched his clean-cut young companion carefully. "I say, no offence, Mr. Preston, or—"
"Or no inference! I understand. Go on, Mr. Dunneston!" The American regained a little of his old spirit as he saw the Englishman heavily marshal the fragments of his perplexity together.
"Exactly, Mr. Preston!" the Briton nodded. "I shan't ask you where you have been; but—but ah, just how coincidental have you continued to be, I might put it, Mr. Preston, with the—ah, remainder of the series of robberies in England these past three weeks? They started, you know, and kept to the cathedral
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