want me, Miss Varris, when I see your mother, to try to counteract the effect of the police theory and convince her, at least till to-morrow, that there is no definite, dangerous man here at Ely."
"Exactly, Mr. Preston," the girl approved. "Will you?"
"Well, Miss Varris," Preston turned about smiling. The Englishman, who had been standing in the window a little behind, had moved away.
"Oh, Mr. Dunneston!" the American recalled him hastily. "Oh, Mr. Dunneston. I beg your pardon! Won't you wait a moment?"
"Miss Varris," he faced the girl as the Englishman returned courteously, "won't you let me present to you Mr. Dunneston, with whom I have been travelling in the cathedral towns for the past week? Mr. Dunneston, Miss Varris. Mrs. Varris, Miss Varris, and I crossed together upon the Britannia.
"I am sure," he continued, as the girl bowed cordially to the Englishman, "that you will agree, in a moment, that I am brave in pre-
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