"Mr. Thornton," laughed Winnie Lee, "it gives me the greatest pleasure to introduce you to Miss Darling."
Tom bowed profoundly, while the girl giggled, and made a courtesy.
Winnie Lee laughed more than ever.
At a distance Frank Merriwell and Jack Diamond were watching.
"Will you see Winnie Lee!" softly exclaimed Merriwell. "She is nearly exploding with laughter. She can"t hold it. It will be a miracle if Thornton does not tumble."
"All the others are laughing," said Jack. "They had to get away when Thornton was introduced. He will be crazy when he finds out how he has been fooled."
Frank was laughing.
"Oh, yes; he"ll tear his hair. The story is bound to circulate. Don"t give him too much time with Griswold before you get in your work and challenge him. Horner is in the game, and he has agreed to help it along."
"Thornton will murder Horner."
"It will be remarkable if they do not suddenly cease to room together."
"Have you brought the pistols?"
"You bet! Everything is ready. Willis Paulding must be involved. We must soak him, as well as Thornton. There go Thornton and his mash toward the cozy corner. You must intrude before it becomes too warm for Griswold, or he is liable to give the whole snap away."
In the meantime Thornton had expressed his delight at meeting his charmer again, and had led her away to the very cozy corner in which he had seen her chatting so vivaciously with Jack Diamond.
Once in the corner the girl ensconced herself in the shadow of the portieres, and, for the first time, the fan dropped from her face.
"This is charming," declared Thornton, in his most fascinating manner.
"Ever since I first saw you I have dreamed of an occasion like this, Miss Darling."
The girl giggled.
"Oh, you are such a flatterer, Mr. Thornton!" she returned, leaning toward him.
"Not at all," declared Tom, as, apparently by accident, his hand fell on hers and remained there. "I am telling you the truth. Since that hour when fate led you to my room, I have thought of you almost constantly by day, and I have dreamed of you at night. Your face has been before my eyes continually."
Her head was bowed, so he could not see her eyes. He felt her hand quiver in his clasp.
"Oh, I am not doing a thing!" was his mental exclamation. "She can"t resist me!"
He grew bolder with amazing rapidity. He seemed to fancy that he could do so with this unsophisticated country girl without being "called down."
"Miss Darling," he murmured, leaning yet nearer to her, and holding her hand with both of his own, "do you believe in love at first sight?"
She giggled again.
"Why, I don"t know," she confessed.
"I do," declared Tom. "I did not till I met you, but since that delightful moment I have."
"Oh, rot!" the girl seemed to say.
"Eh?" exclaimed Thornton, in astonishment. "What did you say?"
"I said, "I think not,"" was the laughing answer. "My cousin has told me all about college fellows, and how they pretend to be all broken up over a girl, but are giving her the dead jolly all the time."
Tom gasped, for the girl rattled off slang as if thoroughly familiar with it. But this dampened Thornton"s ardor for no more than a moment.
"I never give any one a jolly, Miss Darling," he declared, trying to appear sincere. "Miss Darling!" he murmured. "What a sweet name! And it suits you so well!"
"Do you think so?" laughed the girl.
"I do--I do!" palpitated Thornton. "It will be a lucky fellow who can call you his darling! If I might----"
"Mr. Thornton, you are presuming! This is too much!"
Then Jack Diamond suddenly appeared, and asked:
"Did you call for aid, Miss Darling?"
"I was about to do so," declared the girl. "Mr. Thornton has been very presuming and forward."
"Then Mr. Thornton shall answer to me!" came sternly from Jack"s lips.
"If he is not a coward, he will come outside."
Tom turned pale and stammered. He felt like refusing to go outside, but he feared the girl would think him a coward. Then he looked around, and his eyes fell on Willis Paulding.
"Yes, I will go out with you," he said.
"Miss Darling" seemed to be overcome with fear.
"Don"t kill him, Jack!" she whispered.
So she addressed Diamond as "Jack." That fired Thornton till he longed to strangle the Virginian.
"Lead on!" he exclaimed. "I will follow."
They left the room, Thornton calling to Willis, who followed them, wonderingly.
Diamond had made a signal to Merriwell, and Frank was not far behind.
Diamond led the way to the garden.
It was a moonlight night, and seemed almost as light as day.
"Mr. Thornton," said Diamond, sternly, "you have grossly insulted a young lady friend of mine. It is my duty to protect her. I challenge you to fight me, the weapons to be pistols, the place here, and the time now. Your answer, sir--your answer!"
Thornton turned pale, and hesitated. He knew nothing of dueling, and therefore did not know that, being the challenged party, it was his privilege to name the weapons, the time and the place.