Frank was astounded that Dunton should think of “blowing himself” on champagne, for that was what, beyond a doubt, the bottles contained. It was a most remarkable thing for an actor to open anything so expensive for a stranger.
When the wine was placed before the girl, she hesitated and drew back. Frank was watching her closely, and that movement, that hesitation, settled him in the resolve to act.
Dunton leaned over the table, laughing and coaxing her. In a good-natured way, he was ridiculing her into drinking the wine.
Frank felt his blood tingling in his body as he watched this.
Merry rose to his feet. A check had been placed on his table, and he tossed the amount of his bill beside it.
All the while he was watching the girl. He hoped she would refuse to touch the wine, but he realized she lacked the firmness to do so. Her face, though pretty, betrayed in its mold the weakness of her character.
Dunton was winning. The girl looked at the wine, while he continued in his persuasive way to urge her to try it. In hesitation and laughing confusion she asked him something, and Frank knew he was declaring on his honor that the wine was harmless.
She reached out her hand, which trembled the least bit, and took up the glass.
And then, just as Dunton was clinking his glass against that of his pretty companion, Frank walked round the screen. The girl lifted her glass to drink.
Merriwell stood beside the table.