"I don't want so much. I intend to pay you back."
"You need not, I——"
"I want to, though."
"You can suit yourself. But let me say that I am your friend, and I intend to help you all I can, not only here, but when you reach New York. Your uncle will probably have you arrested as soon as you arrive, unless he has his hands too full of his own affairs, which I am inclined to believe will be so."
"I wish I could get at the bottom of that robbery," I went on earnestly.
"Depend upon it, it will all come out in the end. I have spoken to Henshaw about it, and he says he will give the full particulars to a fellow officer in New York who will willingly work it up."
"You are very kind," was all I could say.
"While you are in Boston you must be my guest," went on Mr. Ranson. "I have a legal connection there as well as in New York, and have rooms at the Ridgerow House."
This conversation relieved me of not a little anxiety. I thanked Mr. Ranson again.
"And now about your companion," he went on. "What do you know concerning him?"