“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.”