It ain't
nothing to fret your gizzard about; so there. I'm old enough to look
after myself, and if I ain't I never shall be; so there."
This did not satisfy Mr. Sparkes. He saw that the watch and chain
were certainly valuable, and he could not imagine how the girl had
become honourably possessed of them, save as the gift of an admirer;
but the mere fact of such an admirer's exacting secrecy implied a
situation of danger.
"I don't like the look of it, Polly," he remarked; with a nervous
attempt to be severe.
"All right, dad; then don't like the look of it. The watch is good
enough for me."
It took Mr. Sparkes two or three minutes to understand this joke.
Whilst he was reflecting upon it a thought suddenly passed through
his mind, which startled him by its suggestiveness.
"Polly!"
"Well?"
"It ain't your Uncle Clover, is it?"
The girl laughed loudly as if at a preposterous question.
"Him? Why, I've as good as forgot there was such a man! What do you
mean? Why, I shouldn't know him if I saw him. What made you think of
that?"
"Oh, I don't know.
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