After a while, Creighton proposed that they should go down to the club. To this the girls objected, but Hodge and Diamond exchanged significant glances, and then expressed sudden eagerness to go. “I’ll have to go anyway,” said Hegner. “Burk will be there, and I am due to give him his regular course.” “Well, I will remain here and do my best to entertain the girls,” said Frank. “Not by a hanged sight!” said Hodge, quickly. “We want you to come along with us, Merry.” “That’s right,” agreed Diamond. “Won’t you come, old fellow?” “Oh, yes, by all means, go!” cried Fanny Darling. “We can get along very well without any fellow to bother us.” It was too good an opportunity for Frank to miss, and so he quietly said: “If I remained behind I should not bother you much, Miss Darling.” This was unusually ungallant for Frank, but he began to see that Fanny must be met with her own weapons, and he had suddenly decided on his course of dealing with her in the future. His retort brought the blood to her cheeks, and her eyes flashed as she snapped: “That’s right! I wouldn’t let you!” As the five lads walked away to take a car, Bessie Blossom said: “How could you be so rude to such a splendid fellow, Fan? It was just perfectly horrid of you!” “That’s so!” chorused Lucy and Mabel. “Frank Merriwell is splendid!” “Say, girls,” cried Fanny, “you make me weary! The trouble with Mr. Merriwell is that he is smart, and he knows it. He has been accustomed to having everybody flatter him, and it will do him good to know there are persons who do not think he is the only item in the paper. Perhaps it will reduce the size of his head so an ordinary hat will fit him.” “If there is any fellow in the world who has every reason to have a swelled head, and still hasn’t got one, it is Frank Merriwell,” declared Mabel Creighton. “My brother says so, and he knows. He says that, for a fellow in such a position, Merriwell is the most unassuming chap in college. You do him an injustice, Fanny.” The girl with the freckles gave her head a saucy toss. “Oh, that’s what’s the matter—every one of you is stuck on him! I saw that right away. And it always happens that way. Wherever he goes, the girls get all broke up over him, and then flock around him. Well, he’ll find there is one girl who doesn’t care a cent for him—so there!” “At least, Fanny, you might treat him decent,” protested Mabel. “I will, for I won’t have anything at all to say to him after this. I hope that will satisfy you. If Wallace Hegner would put on the gloves with him, and give him a good thumping, it would help take the conceit out of him. But Mr. Merriwell, the great Yale athlete, would be far too shrewd to stand up in front of Hegner for a bout.” CHAPTER XXX—FRANK EXPRESSES HIS OPINION