Then, apparently almost at a white heat, Diamond left the big fellow, who sat down wearily on an easy-chair, murmuring to himself:
“Queer chap, that. He drags honor into everything. He’ll not even flirt a little with a pretty girl, for he is in love with a little Boston maiden, Paula Benjamin, who is at Bar Harbor. And I don’t believe there is anything serious between them, either, for I am sure he has not proposed to her. All the same, just as long as he is in love with her, he’ll not look at another girl. I wonder if all Virginians are that way. They can’t be.”
Diamond hurried out of the room. In various parts of the house he looked for Hattie Hazle.
“If I find her,” he thought, “I will ask her where Frank has gone.”
He did not find her.
At last, Jack came hurrying back to the parlor, a troubled look on his face. He saw Hodge, and quickly drew him aside.
“Look here, Bart,” he said, speaking in a low tone and uttering the words swiftly, “something is up.”
“What? How?”
“I’ll tell you. A while ago Miss Hazle came into this room in a hurry, just as Hans was trying to tell that story. I saw her look around till her eyes fell on Frank, then she hurried to him. No one noticed her but Merry and myself. She began speaking to him in a low tone, and I caught a few of her words.”
“Go on.”