“Have you ever seen him before?” questioned Dick. “Do you know him?”
“I do not seem to remember him,” confessed Merry.
“He’s a stranger to you! She never told you anything about him. You see! And you trusted her!”
Frank felt like rebuking Starbright, but at this moment the man turned away, and walked briskly down the avenue.
“We’ll follow him,” decided Merry quietly.
“Yes!” panted Dick. “He may take us to her! Then you can demand an explanation!”
“Don’t think I shall make such a fool of myself, my dear fellow. If she saw fit to make an explanation, I might listen; but I have no right to make any demands on her, and I shall not be an ass.”
“Because you do not trust her, Starbright. When you cease to trust Inza, you forfeited your rights to demand anything of her.”
“What are you talking about? If I still trusted her, there would be no need for me to ask her to explain.”
“Exactly,” nodded Merry. “As you do not, you have no right to ask her. That puts you out of it. I hope she is not badly smitten with you, my boy, for I hardly think you deserve to win her.”
This was plain talk, and it struck home. Starbright felt the wound rankle in his heart, and again he bitterly resolved to convince Merry that Inza Burrage was not all she had been fancied to be.
The man in advance was moving briskly. Frank and Dick kept a certain distance behind him.
“You’ll find out!” said the freshman. “Don’t take your eyes off him! You’ll find you have been fooled by her!”
“Enough of that!” commanded Frank sharply. “I will listen to no more of it! If it were not that I wish to convince you of your shameful mistake, I’d not take the trouble to follow this man, for I trust her fully and completely.”
The stranger kept straight down Sixth Avenue till Twenty-third Street was reached. As he approached that corner, a handsome, well-dressed girl came quickly toward him.
It was Inza, who, apparently, had been waiting for him there.
She ran up and grasped the stranger by the arm, and they plainly heard her say:
“Oh, Walter, I’m so glad you’ve come! Three men have followed me all the way from the house and persisted in speaking to me. They hung around and annoyed me when I paused here, where you promised to meet me.”
“There they are!” said Inza, pointing at a trio of men who looked like sports and fighters. An instant later the stranger had walked straight up to the men, and then——