“You don’t know!” burst from Dick’s lips. “You have seen nothing but her fine qualities. You have not observed the other side of her character. She’s a flirt! She takes delight in deceiving men! I believe she has deceived you, just as she did me! Oh, yes! she’s handsome, but she’s fickle. I know what I’m talking about, Merriwell! Don’t try to stop me! I know you’ll say I’m crazy, but I’m not! I have seen something with my own eyes that settles everything between that girl and myself! I am done with her, Frank Merriwell—done with her forever!” Then Frank gripped the gigantic Andover man, and, despite Starbright’s remarkable strength, quickly sat him down on a chair. “See here!” exploded Frank, a look in his eyes that the other had never seen there before, “do you know, man, that you have stepped over the limit? How dare you talk to me in such a way of Inza Burrage? I have known her since she was a girl in short dresses, and she is as pure as the stars. Man, you cannot speak of her thus before me! You are my friend—at least, you have been. I will not listen to such words from the lips of anybody. She is not treacherous, and she does not take delight in deceiving men.” Dick Starbright was appalled by the terrible earnestness of Frank Merriwell. He sat there, staring up at Merry in wonderment, while in his heart he was saying: “You told me you did not care for her, but you love her—you love her! I see it now! You may not know it, Merriwell, but you love her!” He gave himself a slight shake, as if flinging off a spell. “All right,” he said huskily. “I am willing that you should think so.” But his manner of saying this made Frank more furious than ever. His face hardened and his grip on Starbright’s shoulders was like iron. “By Heaven!” he said harshly; “you shall think so! You shall say so with your own lips! You shall take back everything you have thought and said of her that was not in praise of her. I swear it!” It is possible that for a single moment Starbright thought of opposing Merriwell with physical force, but the inclination passed swiftly, and he sat there in silence, a look of defiance on his almost boyish face. “Go ahead!” he muttered. “I know what I’ve seen!” “Now you must tell me what you mean by that, man. There can be nothing held in reserve now, Starbright—tell everything! It is the only way.” “All right; but I did not mean to tell—you force it from me.” “But be careful!” warned Merry. “I shall investigate. Make no charge you cannot back up.”