“I remember the day I first saw you at a picnic in old Snodd’s grove,” he went on. “I’ve always remembered you just as you looked then. I thought you the prettiest girl I had ever seen. Since then it——”
“You must have seen thousands of pretty girls,” she broke in, trying to turn his conversation. “Have you had many adventures in the Philippines?”
“I have seen more than thousands,” he declared; “but never one of them all as pretty as you were that day, Miss Burrage. This is not flattery; it is the sincere truth. I have thought of you millions of times, and you have ever come to me as a truly representative American girl.”
“Thank you,” she said, not exactly pleased by his bold words of praise. “I’m sure you are altogether too complimentary.”
“Oh, not at all! I know a pretty girl when I see one! I tell you plenty of pretty girls have flung themselves at me, but I’m still single, you see. In every case, I could not help comparing the girl with one I had first seen at the picnic in Snodd’s grove, and, as a result, none of them caught me.”
He laughed and twirled his mustache, his pose being one calculated to arouse admiration. Evidently Roy Swift had lost none of his conceit since the old days at Fardale, when he regarded himself as “strictly the proper thing.”
Inza was displeased. She felt like immediately showing her scorn for this boasting fellow, but something held her in check.
Swift knew her brother. More than that, he knew all about the trouble into which Walter had been drawn, and he might recognize the unfortunate fellow on sight, even though Frank Merriwell had failed to do so, for he knew Walter was not dead, while Merry had been led to so regard him.
Such being the case, it was far better to be careful not to arouse the resentment of a fellow who might have it in his power to injure Walter. So Inza bit her lips and remained silent.
“I’ve been trying to get off on furlough for some time,” Swift went on; “but it has been very difficult. When I did get away, after visiting my people, I continued to think of the friends in general whom I had known in Fardale—and of you in particular. Then I determined to visit the old place. That’s how I came to be on this train. I presume you have been away from home on a visit of some sort.”