“Mr. Swift,” she panted, “is it possible you are threatening me?”
“Not that! But I am desperately in love with you, Inza, and I was determined to find a way to make you listen to me.”
“Brave man!”
Her words and her look cut him deeply, but he would not be checked.
“I have loved you all the years since I left Fardale. In all my wanderings I have never found another like you, Inza!”
“Call me Miss Burrage, if you please, sir!”
“You can’t hold me in check that way! You do not know Roy Swift, else you would not try. I have seen you again, and I find you far handsomer than you were in the old days. My heart is torn with love, and I have sworn that you shall be mine!”
He was shaking with the intensity of his feelings. In his bronzed cheeks there was a wild flush, while his eyes gleamed with a burning light. Inza was alarmed, but she did not show it.
“You had better withdraw your oath,” she calmly said; “for I shall never be yours. You have fancied something that is quite impossible.”
“You must—you shall!” he cried. “I will not give you up to Frank Merriwell! He shall not have you! Inza, when my grandfather dies I shall be a rich man. I did not have to enter the army. I did that of my own accord. I shall be able to give you anything you want if you will marry me.”