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Page 228

| what I have to say. When I was a small lad, my father abandoned me and my mother. Soon after my mother died, I came to Australia with my Uncle Jason. He was killed a few years later by a lone gunman over a gambling debt. I stayed in Australia. I saw the corrupt ways of some of the so-called lawmen and decided to fight for the people's rights," he said. |

| He stopped and cleared his throat nervously before continuing. "You see, I became a leader of a gang a few years ago, fighting the corrupt English rule in Australia led by Superintendent Silas Howland. My gang was wrongly labeled bushrangers." |

| He did not want to tell her about the hidden chest filled with a fortune, preferring to leave that in his past along with everything else that had almost ruined his life. "For my supposed crimes I was imprisoned, Sasha," he continued. "But not for long. I was lucky not to be assigned to a chain gang thanks to the skills I learned in school in England studying to become a government clerk. I paid my dues and was released on good behavior with the few dollars I had saved up during my convict sentence. Those few dollars I invested in my pub." |

| Having listened raptly to Ashton, Sasha was momentarily stunned by his confession. Then she flung herself into his arms and hugged him. "Oh, Ashton, why didn't you tell me sooner?" she cried. "You should have known that I would understand. And oh, but I do! I do!" |

| Ashton held her away from him and looked down at her, his eyes filled with emotion. "Sasha, that isn't all I wanted to tell you," he said. "Stanford Sidwell's prison term was lengthened by two years for having |

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