This was very amusing to Merriwell, for but a short time before Diamond had expressed himself quite freely in regard to the girl, and it was plain his ideas had undergone a change since seeing her.
“Don’t worry,” Frank returned. “She won’t mind a little scrap. I think she will enjoy it. She is that kind.”
This did not seem to satisfy the young Virginian, who immediately set about making himself as agreeable as possible with Isa.
The boys were invited to sit down, and seats were provided for all of them.
Frank became rather serious, for thoughts of Hodge’s misfortune began to trouble him, and he remembered that this girl was responsible for it all.
Isa did not look a day older than when he had last seen her, and it was hard to realize that she was a woman with an experience and a dead husband.
Browning was silent and apparently contented. He seemed to take great satisfaction in sitting down and resting.
After a little silence, Isa observed, seeming to take a malicious satisfaction in what she said:
“One of Mr. Merriwell’s friends had not forgotten me, at least.”
“It might have been better for him if he had,” returned Frank, in a manner that surprised himself, for never before had he made such an ungallant remark.