“You know as well as I.”
“Did she act natural?”
“No.”
“Aren’t appearances against her?”
“They seem to be,” Merry was forced to confess.
“And still you have confidence in her?”
“I trust her fully, Starbright. That girl has been my friend and I have been hers ever since we first met in Fardale. I have saved her life on more than one occasion. In return she watched beside me when I was raving and delirious with a fever that threatened to end all in this world for me. It was her care that brought me back to life and health. And then, when I—forced to earn my living by daily labor—when I had no work and no money, she got work for me.
“When people who regarded a day-laborer as something far beneath them refused to recognize me, she found a way to compel them to do so. Starbright, that girl has been to me the best friend a man could have! Do you think I would doubt her now? I trust her as fully as I would trust my own mother, were she living! She has a reason for anything she has done, and a good reason it will prove to be. I am willing to wait until she explains. If she does not see fit to explain, I shall still believe in her!”
Dick Starbright was silenced at last. He wondered at the great faith of Frank Merriwell, and again he told himself:
“He loves her! There is no longer a doubt of it. And love is blind! It is useless to make a further attempt to open his eyes.”