"Well, I hope you will come out all right," Stokes replied, adding significantly, "and perhaps you will, if certain folks don't appear against you." "I'm not afraid," replied Ingham; "there is no one who can say anything against me." On arriving at the station, the same consideration was shown to him, and the station-keeper asked him to make himself comfortable in the main sitting-room. "Am I under arrest?" he asked again. "No, not exactly; you can take it easy for a time, and you will have an examination soon." "If I am not under arrest," Ingham replied, "I shall not stay here." "Why not?" asked the station-keeper. "Because I have no business here unless I am a prisoner," was Ingham's reply. "We can lock you up in a cell, if we want to," said the station-keeper; "but we thought you would prefer to be comfortable up here." "Then I _am_ a prisoner?" again inquired Ingham, who seemed anxious to have his status satisfactorily explained. "Yes, confound it; if you are determined to have it so, you are." About five o'clock the sergeant of police came in, and asked Ingham his name. "Ingham," was the reply. "Jack Ingham?" "No; John Ingham." "What is your business?" asked the sergeant. "I'm not employed at all, just now." "Have you ever had any work to do in this city?" again queried the sergeant. "No; not yet." "Who was that man you were playing cards with the other night?" "What night?" asked Ingham. "Well, Saturday night." "Whereabouts?" "At your boarding place." "Oh! I play cards with a great many fellows," Ingham replied. "I don't know which one you mean." "Well, we know who he was," said the sergeant. "Then what are you asking me for?" said Ingham. "Am I under arrest?" "I guess you will have to stay here awhile," was the sergeant's reply. Presently a number of persons came into the room, and Ingham thought he saw among them one of the bindery girls who had formerly lodged with Mrs. Sanford. She looked at him very hard, and then went out into the hall, where he could hear her talking with the station-keeper and Stokes. He also heard the sergeant call a policeman and give him some instructions, in which Ingham caught the words, "Pinkerton's office." The man then put on his coat and went out. Presently the sergeant approached him again, and, looking at him significantly, said: "Now we know all about your playing cards with that man, and afterward robbing him." "I don't know what you mean," Ingham replied; "I don't know what man you are talking about." "Didn't you see that piece in the paper yesterday?" asked the sergeant. "I saw a number of pieces in the paper yesterday, but I can't tell which one you are referring to." The sergeant then showed him the item headed "Highway Robbery," and said: