diff --git a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/ByteCodeReader.cs b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/ByteCodeReader.cs
index 177f6ad..dce8853 100644
--- a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/ByteCodeReader.cs
+++ b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/ByteCodeReader.cs
@@ -251,19 +251,20 @@ namespace Microsoft.Iris.Markup
 
         public unsafe string ReadString()
         {
-            uint stringLength = ReadUInt16();
-            if (stringLength == ushort.MaxValue)
+            uint preamble = ReadUInt16();
+            if (preamble == ushort.MaxValue)
                 return null;
 
-            var isUtf16Encoded = ((int)stringLength & (1 << 15)) == 0;
-            uint byteCount;
+            var isUtf16Encoded = ((int)preamble & (1 << 15)) == 0;
+            uint byteCount, stringLength;
             if (isUtf16Encoded)
             {
+                stringLength = preamble;
                 byteCount = stringLength * 2U;
             }
             else
             {
-                stringLength &= (uint)short.MaxValue;
+                stringLength = preamble & (uint)short.MaxValue;
                 byteCount = stringLength;
             }
 
diff --git a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/ByteCodeWriter.cs b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/ByteCodeWriter.cs
index f489104..903f125 100644
--- a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/ByteCodeWriter.cs
+++ b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/ByteCodeWriter.cs
@@ -137,11 +137,11 @@ namespace Microsoft.Iris.Markup
                     }
                 }
 
-                uint length = (uint)value.Length;
+                uint preamble = (uint)value.Length;
                 if (!useUtf16)
-                    length |= 1 << 15;
+                    preamble |= 1 << 15;
                 
-                WriteUInt16((ushort)length);
+                WriteUInt16((ushort)preamble);
                 
                 foreach (char ch in value)
                 {