"Well, I want to see Inza, and have a talk with her, about the New London races. So I think I will take a car for Mrs. Moran"s."
Winnie had informed him that both Inza and Elsie had gone on an errand of mercy to the home of the grandmother of Barney Lynn.
"And you won"t come in, even a little while? You prefer their society to mine, I see! I am ashamed of you, Frank Merriwell! You are not as gallant as you used to be."
Her voice was merry and her heart light.
"Some other afternoon or evening I shall be glad to come in and talk you to death. Just now I am pressed for time."
"I ought to have gone down there with them," she confessed. "But it seemed that I couldn"t get away. Frank, you don"t know what angels of mercy those girls have been! Elsie found out that Mrs. Moran was starving and dying by inches for lack of proper food and medicines, and since then she and Inza have been down there every day, and often two or three times a day."
"I trust they don"t venture after nightfall!"
Frank was thinking of a fight Jack Ready had while rescuing Elsie from the drunken ruffian, Jim Haskins.
Then he thanked Winnie for her invitation, said good-by, and hurried away to catch the first car going in the direction which he wished to take.
"I hope Badger is entirely worthy of her," he thought, his mind on Winnie Lee. "She is a fine girl, and if he gets her he will get a prize.
Now, if they don"t pa.s.s me, coming back in another car! Winnie hasn"t the least idea that Buck was intoxicated when he went aboard the _Crested Foam_, and she shall never know it from me!"
Neither of the girls heard Merriwell"s gentle rap on Mrs. Moran"s door, and he pushed into the house without further ceremony, feeling sure that they were busy in caring for the old lady or that her condition was such that they could not leave her. Then, looking through the doorway at the right of the corridor, his gaze fell on a pleasant sight.
The girls were seated by the bed, Elsie holding one of Mrs. Moran"s wasted hands in her own warm palms, while Inza was reading to the old woman from a little copy of the New Testament.
Merriwell stopped for a moment, for his entrance had been unnoticed.
Somehow, the pathos of the scene inexpressibly touched him.
"They are angels of mercy, just as Winnie said!" was his thought.
Inza had an excellent reading voice, as pure and liquid as falling water. It was a pleasure to listen to it. Frank had often heard her read, but it seemed to him never with such expression as at that moment.
The sunlight, falling through the small west window, illuminated her face, making it almost radiant, and touched with brighter tints Elsie"s crown of golden hair.
"I wish I were a painter!" he thought. "I should like to preserve that scene. If I could have that to hang in my room, it would be like a flash of sunshine to look at. But no painter could do it justice. There are certain things that can"t be painted, and this is one of them."
He noisily shifted his feet to call attention to his presence, and Inza looked up. The color flooded her cheeks, and her dark eyes showed surprise.
"Why, Frank!" she gasped. "How did you come to be here?"
Elsie also started up.
"How did you get in?" she asked.
"Opened the door and walked in. You were so busy you didn"t hear my knock, so I just took the liberty."
Mrs. Moran stirred, and turning feebly, looked at him, her eyes showing recognition.
"I am very glad to see you!" she whispered, as he advanced toward the bed, and she stretched out one of the feeble hands. "Sometimes I think that I am not long for this world. I should have died here, I feel sure, if it had not been for these girls. And your other friend, Miss Winnie, has been very good, too! I hope you are quite well, Mr. Merriwell!"
"Quite well! Don"t let me disturb you. Inza was reading to you. Let her go on. I will sit here in this chair."
So Inza read again, until the old woman was tired; after which the trio left the house, and walked down to the car line, where they took a car for the residence of the Honorable Fairfax Lee.
"I went to Lee"s to see you," Frank explained, "for I wanted to talk over some details of the trip to New London and the June races. The mascot of the crew hasn"t been down to the boat-house this week. And I wanted to invite both of you, and Winnie, to the ball-game Sat.u.r.day forenoon."
"I am sorry about Bart!" Inza exclaimed. "But he will come round all right, don"t you think?"
"He may not play in this game, but he will see how foolish he is, and be heartily ashamed of it by and by."
"Who is to catch for you, then?"
"Jack Ready!"
"What?"
"Perhaps you haven"t seen Ready catch? He is a good one!"
"You need a strong battery, Frank!" Elsie a.s.serted.
"Yes, like you and Hodge," nodded Inza. "I"m afraid Badger and Ready will not be able to work well together. They haven"t played together before, I believe?"
Inza was full of bright, snappy conversation, as they sped homeward in the car with Merriwell. But Elsie was unusually silent.
"She can"t get Mrs. Moran out of her mind," Frank thought.
He left them at the door, for the hour had grown so late that he felt he could not just then spare the time to go into the house, much as he wanted to do so. Inza and Elsie went up-stairs together. Winnie was out or in another part of the house.
Inza shrugged her shapely shoulders.
"What is the matter, Elsie, dear?"
Elsie"s lips were quivering as she faced round and confronted her friend.
"You ought to know what is the matter, Inza Burrage!" she declared.
"I"m not the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter," said Inza, a bit defiantly. "How should I know?"
"You do know!"
"I should say that you are showing a bit of jealousy, if pressed for an answer."
"And haven"t I a right to be jealous, Inza?" Elsie demanded.
"Haven"t I a right to talk to Frank Merriwell and be nice to him, if I want to?"
"Of course, Inza, but--well--you know----"
"It seems to me, Elsie, that you came between Frank and me once! Isn"t it so? Frank cared for me before he ever did for you. You came between us. I haven"t come between you and Frank yet, but if I should do so would it be any worse than what you did?"
"Oh, I thought that was past!" cried Elsie, flushing and trembling. "You never understood me, Inza!"