When Bart and Frank presented themselves at the police court on the
following day to testify against Shiner Gregg, the judge took them into
a private room and heard the story they had to tell, after which he
said:
"I am going to hold this Gregg a day or two for a purpose before I give
him a trial. The police are looking for some information they believed
the prisoner could give them, and they proposed to 'put on the screws.'"
Frank and Bart assured the judge that they would remain in Philadelphia
four days and could be found at the Continental when wanted. Then they
were allowed to depart.
Immediately after lunch Merriwell started for Charlie Creighton's,
feeling a strong anxiety to know how severely Fanny Darling had been
burned.
As for Merriwell, he was astonished to find he had not been seriously
injured by the fire. The prompt attention given his hands by the doctor
had saved them from blistering, and, although they were red and tender,
they promised to be all right in a day or two. He had them done up
again, and was advised to keep the air from them as much as possible
till the following day.
Creighton and his sister were at home, and they welcomed Frank warmly.
"I called at the Continental this forenoon to see you," said Charlie;
"but you and Hodge were out. However, the fellows told me your hands
seemed much better than you had expected they would be."
"Yes," nodded Frank; "they seem to be coming out all right. The stuff
the doctor put on them appears to have worked marvels."
"I am so glad!" exclaimed Mabel. "It seemed terrible to think you might
be hurt so you could not play football this fall, for Charlie says Yale
could not get along without you."
"Creighton is too kind!" exclaimed Frank. "He overestimates my
abilities. But I wish to ask about Miss Darling. Have you heard from her
to-day?"
"Yes, I have seen her. One of her arms is quite severely burned, but
that seems to be all. She says she will be all right in two or three
days, at most."
"I am very glad to hear that, for I feared her burns might be more
severe than was supposed at first. I reached her as soon as possible
after she screamed."
"It's amazing to me that you reached her as quickly as you did,"
declared Charlie. "Wallace Hegner was with her, and he did not find an
opportunity to lift his hand to help her."
"He acted like a coward!" exclaimed Mabel, her eyes flashing. "He
retreated from her, and he has been rewarded for his pusillanimous act."
"Rewarded--how?"
"When he tried to see her last evening after her burns had been
attended, she refused to have anything to say to him, and she says
she'll never speak to him again."
"Well," said Merry, slowly, "I don't know but that fire was a good thing
if it has opened her eyes to Hegner's true character."
Creighton flushed and looked abashed, whereupon Frank quickly cried:
"I beg your pardon, old man! I made a break then, for I forgot you
introduced us."
"It's all right," declared Creighton; "and it is my place to beg your
pardon for the introduction; but I assure you that I did not dream
Hegner was the fellow he has since proved to be. If I had----Well, I
scarcely think you would have met him at my home, and I am sure you will
not see him here again. You have done considerable to show him up,
and----"
"I may do more."
"More? How?"
"I cannot explain just now, but I am not through with Mr. Hegner.
Yesterday I struck him with a boxing glove. The next time I strike it
will be a far more severe blow, and I shall not use my hands."
"That sounds queer from you, Merriwell. At college you have been
considered altogether too kind to your enemies."
"I am ready to be easy with an enemy who shows any redeeming features,
and I am aware that a fellow may dislike me and still be a good fellow
at heart. Such things happen. I have my own failings, and I believe in
doing by others as I would that they should do by me. But a fellow like
this Hegner--well, I doubt if he has a single redeeming trait, and I
consider it my duty to expose him as far as possible. That's all."
Mabel was regarding Frank admiringly, and she was thinking that he could
be stern and unrelenting if the occasion demanded, although he was
naturally generous and forgiving.
After a little, Merriwell told of his street encounter of the previous
evening, and his hearers listened with breathless interest.
"Great Scott!" cried Charlie. "You must have had a close call! And you
think the object was not robbery?"
"I am sure it was not."
"Then the gang must have attacked you with the sole object of doing you
up."
"That's right."
"And you think you know one of them?"
"Yes."
"Who was it?"
"That is something I will tell you later. Shiner Gregg may be induced to
squeal. Look out for an explosion, Creighton. It is coming."
Two days later, while walking along one of Philadelphia's principal
streets, Merriwell noticed a fellow who was blocking the path of a girl
with his person and speaking to her excitedly, although she was trying
to pass to reach a carriage that stood at the curb.
"It's Hegner!" muttered Frank. "And the girl is--Fanny Darling! She is
trying to avoid him, and the rascal is---- Confound him!"
The exclamation escaped Frank's lips as he saw Wallace Hegner grasp the
girl by the wrist, lean forward and hiss something in her ear.
Frank made a spring, and as he came forward, Hegner happened to turn his
head slightly and see him. The girl also saw him, and a look of relief
came over her face.
Hegner scowled blackly and hesitated, then he dropped Fanny's wrist and
hurried away.
Merriwell was tempted to follow him, but Fanny called to him, and he
stopped. As he did so, lifting his hat with a graceful movement that was
natural for him, her face, pale a moment before, grew crimson.
But she did not hesitate; immediately she came forward and held out her
hand, saying:
"Mr. Merriwell, I said I would ask your pardon on my knees, but I can't
do it here in the street, and so perhaps you will not expect it."
"Well, hardly!" laughed Frank. "I don't know why you should ask my
pardon at all."
"I do! I ask it now, Mr. Merriwell! You were a gentleman, and I know I
was not a lady. Oh, I have been so ashamed of myself when I thought it
all over and realized what sort of an opinion you must have formed of
me!"
"Miss Darling!"
"And I am trying to leave off slang, although I will make a break
occasionally--there! I want to thank you for the heroic manner in which
you came to my rescue when my clothes were on fire."
"I am afraid you make too much of that. I fail to see where the heroism
came in."
"That--that fellow you just drove away did not make a move to help me,
and he was the nearest of anybody! I don't care, it was heroic of you!"
"All right," smiled Frank; "if you are determined to have it that way,
I'll have to let you regard me as a hero."
She looked him straight in the eyes, and softly said:
"I do!"
After a moment, her eyes drooped before his steady gaze, and he saw she
had long lashes that almost touched her cheeks.
"Mr. Merriwell."
"Yes, Miss Darling."
"I am afraid it may seem bold, and I know you think me far too forward
now----"
"No, no--I protest!"
"I can't help it if you do think so. I can't be strictly conventional at
all times. We are standing in the street, where we must attract more or
less notice. There is my carriage. Will you ride with me?"
"With pleasure."
The footman in livery held open the door for them to enter, and then
that door closed behind them. The dignified footman ascended to his
seat, and the coachman started up the horses. The closed carriage rolled
away.
For some moments Frank and Fanny were silent, both seeming embarrassed.
At last, he asked her about the burns she had received, and they chatted
in a commonplace way for some time.
"Do you know," he said, "when I heard you scream that night and saw the
fire, my heart nearly leaped out of my mouth. I was afraid I could not
reach you in time to keep the fire from your face and neck."
"What if you hadn't! I'm not a raving beauty now, and it would not have
damaged my looks very much."
"Don't say that, Miss Darling! It would have been terrible! And you are
pretty! I am sincere!"
She gasped for breath.
"Really--really, Mr. Merriwell! It's impossible! Why, there is Mabel!"
"I know. She is charming, but to my eyes, you are far prettier. Don't
think I am trying taffy, for I give you my word, Miss Darling, that I am
not."
"Why, I--I thought you were dead stuck on Mabel!" cried the wondering
girl.
"Not that. I like her, and she has treated me very nicely."
"Yes, far better than I have; but that night, after you had saved me, I
heard the doctor say, that if you did not save my life, at least you had
prevented my frightful disfigurement. Oh, you will never know the
sensation that came over me then! Such a sense of shame, for I thought
how I had treated you. But--but I want to tell you something now, Mr.
Merriwell. It is awfully hard for me to say, but I must say it. I did
not treat you that way because I disliked you. No! no! no! It was for
just the other reason. I liked you too well--there! I thought you did
not care anything for me and was all taken up with Mabel, so I tried to
get a dab at you every time I could. It was mean--I know it! I didn't
expect you to forgive me, for I am sure I did not deserve it. And then,
after all the mean things I had done, you passed all those near me when
I was in danger and saved me! I could have died from shame!"
She was sobbing now, although fighting back the tears. He did his best
to soothe her, and succeeded very well.
"I think we understand each other very well now," he said.
The closed carriage rolled on. The coachman pulled down the horses to a
slower pace, as if he knew there was no need to hurry. The footman sat
up very straight, with folded arms and solemn, dignified countenance, as
if such a thing as curiosity had never entered his heart, and he had no
thought of the young couple within the carriage.
Yes, they understood each other very well at last.