“Perhaps you are right,” admitted the Virginian reluctantly. “But you know I’ve never fancied the fellow particularly. It does not seem right for him to win Elsie, and I do not believe he will make her happy. Think of his passionate disposition, his reckless ways——” “And think of her moderation and gentleness. She will soften and change him. Her influence over him will be of the very best. I believe he will stand ready to lay down his very life for her. I am sure he will do everything in his power to make her happy. That is—if she ever accepts him.” “Then she hasn’t——” “Not yet.” “Frank, she still——” “She says she will never marry.” “Frank, she still cares more for you than anybody living! All girls say they are going to be old maids. It gets to be a silly habit with them.” “Elsie is not a silly girl.” “Oh, I didn’t mean that; you know what I meant. But how about Inza Burrage—she remains true to you?” “As a friend. She has been nothing more for a long time.” “I know she’s a proud, jealous girl, and——” “Don’t say a word against her, Jack!” “What do you take me for? There was a time that I did not know which girl you cared for most.” A strange, inscrutable smile flitted over Frank Merriwell’s fine face. Perhaps there had been a time when he was not sure in his own heart which he cared for most. “But,” Jack went on, “I reasoned it all out, and I knew at last that you preferred Elsie.” Did he know? He might have thought so, but what man knows all the secrets of another’s heart? “I saw that you were fond of Inza, proud to be her friend, ready to fight for her to the last gasp, ready to do anything for her sake, but you did not love her.” Had the Virginian read Frank’s heart better than Frank himself? “Then,” Jack went on, as they turned up Broadway, “in my estimation, Elsie was better adapted for you in every way. It doesn’t seem right that Hodge should come between you, and I will not believe she really cares for him.” “About that I am not certain, but my faith in him is absolute. I know he would make any true, womanly girl a most devoted husband—that is, a girl he really and truly loved.” “Perhaps so, but there is a reckless streak in him, and something might send him to the dogs at any time.” “Just so,” nodded Merry. “Knowing that, I was not the fellow to revile him and cause him to do something rash. It is to be a fair and open show, with no underhand methods.” “Oh, well, you’ll win—you can’t help it. When she knows the truth she will turn to you. She cannot blame you for not tying yourself down by a regular engagement till after you leave college.” They had come to one of the handsomest flower-stores on Broadway. Of a sudden, Frank touched Jack’s arm, calling the Virginian’s attention to a girl who was gazing at the handsome display in the window. “There she is again!” said Merry. “The same girl we saw back there,” breathed Jack. “Even now she looks something like Juliet.”