"I am sorry for her, Pablo. I'm sorry Bill has her in his hands."
"Oh, Beel he say he marree her; but I know he lie. Mebbe she know eet now. Beel want her to help heem. You theenk she veree bad girl?"
This question was put almost pathetically, Pablo again grasping Frank's hand and gazing wistfully into Merry's eyes.
"No; I do not think she is very bad."
"She do noteeng to make you theenk so?"
"Well, she fooled me somewhat at first by telling[Pg 142] me a story about her wounded father. She had such an innocent way that I swallowed the yarn. That was how I fell into Bill's hands. I accompanied her to go, as I supposed, to her wounded father. She decoyed me into a trap."
"But afterward—afterward?" eagerly asked the boy.
"She seemed to change in a most remarkable manner, and helped me out of it. But for her, I fancy I'd surely been disposed of by those ruffians."
"Then you see she be not so veree bad. When she first see you mebbe she never seen you before. Mebbe she haf promeesed to Beel that she take you eento trap. Aftare she see you she be soree, and she want you to geet away."
"I think that was about the way things happened, Pablo."