"You thought nothing could hurt me!"
"No, not that. I thought he was to be mine, and recently that hope has been slipping through my fingers. I can't tell you, Inza, how I have felt."
"I can understand!" said the dark-haired girl. "I have good cause to understand!"
"I know that really you are more worthy of him, Inza, than I am. I have always thought that, when I wasn't crazy with the fear that you might win him away from me. But I just can't surrender my claim, slender as you think it!"
"For Frank's sake," repeated Inza, "we will not quarrel about him! As for these other questions——"
Winnie's light step was heard in the hall, and the sentence died unfinished.
CHAPTER V.
HODGE'S REPENTANCE.
Bart Hodge absented himself from class and lecture, but later that night, after all the members of the "flock" had departed from Merriwell's room, Bart came in. His face was flushed and feverish.