--- org/apache/poi/hssf/record/UnicodeString.java.orig	2006-01-11 22:17:43.000000000 +0100
+++ org/apache/poi/hssf/record/UnicodeString.java	2006-01-11 23:29:56.000000000 +0100
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@
               throw new RecordFormatException("Expected continue record.");
           }
           if (isUncompressed) {
-            char ch = (char)in.readByte();
+            char ch = (char)( (short)0xff  &  (short)in.readByte() );
             tmpString.append(ch);
           } else {
             char ch = (char) in.readShort();