“And you are old enough to mind your own business. He is my friend.” The barkeeper gurgled in his throat, plainly longing to come over the bar and attack Merry, yet fearing to do so lest he lose his position. Frank again turned to Dick. “My boy, for your own sake, you can’t afford to touch that stuff.” “Bah!” laughed Starbright. “What do I care about myself!” “Your career at college——” “Is liable to come to an end mighty soon.” “You should think of your friends.” “A man who will treat his best friend the way I treated you can’t be appealed to in that way,” said Starbright almost sullenly. “But your mother, Dick—surely she has seen sorrow enough. For her sake!” The freshman turned pale again, and his hand shook. He put the glass of whisky down. “I won’t drink it—now,” he huskily declared, as he flung some money on the bar and turned away. “I tried not to think of her. I must get out of here, Merriwell!” Frank had conquered, and he walked from the room with his arm passed through that of the big Andover man. He took Starbright up to his room. Diamond was not there, and thus they found themselves alone. “Sit down,” Frank invited, but Dick began to pace the floor like a wild beast in a cage. His eyes were gleaming and the expression on his face was one Frank had never seen there before. “I can’t sit down!” he said. “I must do something. I feel like smashing something!” “If you feel that way now, how would you have felt after getting a few drinks inside you?” “I’d been pretty sure to raise Cain. It’s likely I’d brought up in a police-station.” “You must tell me what it’s all about,” said Merry. “You know I can be trusted, for I am your friend.” The big, handsome freshman whirled about in the middle of the room, flinging out his hand in a gesture of remonstrance. “There is no reason why you should be my friend!” he declared. “You did everything you could for me when I first came to Yale. Even though I was a mere freshman and you so far above me, you showed me such kindness that they came to call me your protégé. I was proud of it, and I felt that you were the finest fellow in the whole world. I wrote to my mother and brother telling them all about you, and what you had done for me. I swore I was willing to serve you, even to the cost of my life. I believed it then, but after that, fooled, enchanted, fascinated, and maddened by a pair of black eyes, I played the traitor to you! Now, why should you remain my friend? I don’t know of a reason!” Frank walked up to Dick, placing his hands on the freshman’s shoulders and gazing straight into his blue, eyes. “My dear boy,” he said, “some things happen in this world despite ourselves. I know what you mean now, but perhaps you fancy you did me a greater wrong than was truly the case.”