“I always hated ye!” grated Hicks. “Something made me hate ye the first time I saw ye. You was so independent, and so polite at the same time. You never was afraid of me. If you’d been afraid it might have been different.”
“And you hated me because I was not afraid of you. That was unreasonable.”
“Mebbe so; but I couldn’t help it. An’ ye came between me an’ my nevvy and niece.”
“No; I kept you from taking advantage of them.”
“Oh, is that the way ye put it? Well, ye won’t keep me no longer.”
Frank started.
“What do you mean?”
“That I’m out of work here. You was goin’ to get me discharged if I bothered Jack and Nell. You can’t keep me back that way now.”
Merriwell stared hard at the man, and then asked:
“Do you mean to make trouble for them?”