out sleeve buttons? Besides, you see, I think he had rather counted upon losing his other things anyway," young Preston explained. "He had sort of conceded them, I guess. But he hadn't thought I would take the sleeve buttons, too; that was what hurt!"
"What do you mean, Mr. Preston?" the girl questioned. "He had sort of conceded his other things—to you?"
"Oh, that's so; I haven't told you, of course. But he has found out," the American explained, "that, after all, you really did not know me before we met on the ship, and so, of course, he lost his last reluctance to connect me with those diverting little larcenies which so enlivened the cathedral towns this summer, ending with that playful little shanghai-ing at Plymouth.
"You see, Miss Varris, the only thing which stuck him to-day, after he heard about our Polporru episode, was his understanding of your statement at Ely, that you and your mother had known me well in America. So,
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