“Well, I ’spose they let him off after a five years’ stretch; they usually do that if a man behaves himself anything near the mark, and he’d be sure to get the blind side of them, if any man could.”
Miss Stanbridge was silent for some minutes.
“Oh!” she at length ejaculated, “poor Charles! he was very unfortunate to be nabbed; but the wisest men are caught napping at times.”
“You’ve known him for a long time, marm?” inquired Bill.
“Dear me, yes—since I was a child.”
“He was always square enough with me. I’ve no reason to complain of him. I only wish I knew where to find him.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t think he’d let me go away empty-handed.”
“Neither do I intend you to go away empty-handed,” cried Bill’s companion.
The gipsy looked hard at the speaker.