In the past it was different. Then girls married because they loved, and they were willing to do everything in their power to aid their husbands in the struggle to rise. Then the question was not if the man could support them in the style to which they had become accustomed, but the girl was ready to take him, if she loved him, “for better or worse,” to cast her fortunes with his, to rise with him or to fall with him. But Bernard Burrage had not looked at marriage in this way, and he did not give his daughter credit for having more heart and soul than that of the average modern girl spoiled by longings for wealth and social position. In this he had made a great mistake, for Inza Burrage would not have tied herself to any man merely for riches or social standing. And she had baffled his every effort to accomplish his purpose until at last he gave up. “Often,” said Swift, “I’ve wondered if you were married yet, Miss Burrage.” “Oh, dear, no!” said she, turning toward the window to brush the mist from her eyes. “I’ve not thought of such a thing.” “I’m glad you are not,” he declared, in his very meaning manner. “There was a caddish young chap at the academy whom you seemed to care for, but I fancied you would outgrow that.” She looked at him inquiringly. “A caddish person whom I seemed to care for?” she questioned. “You can’t mean Bart Hodge?” “Oh, no!” “Then I’m sure I can’t conceive whom you do mean. Will you please name him.” “Why, Frank Merriwell, of course,” smiled the young soldier. Inza’s eyes flashed. “I’d like to know for what reason you call him caddish?” she exclaimed, the flaming color leaping to her cheeks and her dark eyes flashing. “Oh-ho!” murmured Swift, as he saw how he had aroused her. “I thought you were one of his friends at the academy,” said Inza. “Never that,” declared the youth with the bronzed face. “I was not an open enemy, but I never liked him.” “Why not?” “Oh, for various reasons.” “Name one.” “Well, it is not my habit to chase after a fellow that everybody else is chasing.” “Then the boys at the academy used to chase after Frank Merriwell?” “Oh, he had a crowd that hung round him and seemed to think he was the proper thing.” “And that is your only reason for disliking him?” “Not by any means. But he was an upstart. You must remember that he was below me at the academy, and I graduated some time in advance of him. I never had much to do with him, for upper-classmen do not associate freely with plebes.” By this time Inza was thoroughly aroused. “It might have done you unspeakable good if you had associated with him more,” she said. “In what way?” “He was a perfect gentleman,” she declared; “and gentlemen always set a good example.” That did not seem to ruffle Swift in the least. Indeed, her stinging words ran off him as water runs from a duck’s back. “Ha! ha!” he laughed. “It’s plain you were fooled by the fellow, just the same as many others who did not see much of him.”