Lean Production for Competitive Advantage A Comprehensive Guide to Lean Methodologies and Management Practices 1st Nicholas Solution Manual

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Similarly, process technologies have been improved through kaizen at all major automobile
manufacturers. Toyota improved and is still improving its production system in such a manner
that today its cost and time to produce cars are the lowest in the industry. Toyota made the first
significant improvements to shop-floor systems, and other auto makers were forced to play catch
up.
Other examples of kaizen to improve or upgrade existing systems include:
Replacing hand soldering of circuit board with wave soldering (soldering using a wave of
molten solder).
Replacing rotary telephones with push button telephones.

Replacing manual film advance, focusing, and aperture setting in hand-held cameras with
automatic advance, focusing, and exposure.
Replacing manual transmissions in automobiles with automatic transmissions (most
motor-assisted features in cars are kaizen improvements of earlier manual features—window
and door lock mechanisms, seat and rear-view mirror adjustments, etc.).
Improving automobile engines so they require a tune-up only once every 100,000 miles
(instead of every 12,000 miles).
Improving PC microprocessors so they are ever smaller and faster.
Replacing metal components in products with plastic components that do not rust or dent
(while this application represents incremental improvement, often the process of creating and
incorporating these components into existing systems requires genuine innovation
improvement).
*5. One example of innovation improvement in product technology mentioned in the chapter is
development of jet engine technology, which subsequently became the dominant propulsion
technology in military and commercial aircraft—largely replacing propeller technology.
Other examples of new technology that eclipsed old technology are:
The backward-first Flopsbury flop replaced the sidelong technique of high jumping.
Steam technology replaced wind technology in transoceanic shipping.
The iron horse replaced the stage coach as the primary mode of intercontinental
transportation.
The telegraph replaced the Pony Express.
Laser-jet technology replaced dot matrix technology in computer printers.
Steel superstructure construction replaced traditional load-bearing walls in construction of
high-rise buildings.
Magnetic cards replaced traditional keys for door locks in hotel rooms.
Digital camera replaced film cameras.
Word processors replaced typewriters.
Stealth technology replaced electronic jamming of radar (in one sense, stealth is an
incremental improvement in aircraft and ship design, yet in another sense, it is a true
innovation because it largely renders conventional radar technology useless).
Tapes replaced records.
CDs replaced tapes.
MP3s replaced CDs.
Disposable diapers replaced cloth diapers.
Electronic systems that replaced mechanical systems (examples: cash registers and control
systems)
Electronic photocopying replaced carbon paper and the ditto machines.
Nautilus equipment replaced free weights and pulleys.
6. The theory behind frontline worker participation in continuous improvement is that workers
are sometimes in the best position to notice places needing improvement and to originate

improvement ideas. They are also often able to implement improvements more quickly and
efficiently than if specialists were involved. For ideas that are more technologically complex
and costly to implement, workers are encouraged to prepare proposals and seek assistance from
specialists. Often, however, workers implement improvements themselves without assistance
or approval from managers.
7. The PDCA cycle is a structured way to apply the process of perceiving and thinking about
problems and solution. It is characterized by four steps, which, in terms of continuous
improvement, should be thought of as steps in a continuous cycle that has no start or finish.
The four steps are the plan step, the do step, the check step, and the act step.
The plan step includes the four substeps of collecting data, defining the problem, stating the
goal, and solving the problem.
The do step is the implementation of the plan.
The check step involves collection and analysis of data about the effects of the implemented
plan.
The act step represents follow-up actions based upon results from the check step.
8. Toyota employees are conditioned to ask why five times whenever confronted with a
problem. This procedure assures that the root causes of a problem are identified and corrected,
not merely the symptoms or superficial causes.
9. Value analysis and value engineering are techniques for assessing the value content of the
elements of a product or a process. Value is based on the perception of the customer; it is the
worth of something and how much customers are willing to pay for it. Value analysis refers to
analysis of existing processes and it is a tool of continuous improvement. Value engineering
refers to the first-time design and engineering of a product or process.
10. Reengineering refers to the rethinking and redesigning of business processes in order to
achieve improvements in cost, quality, service and speed. Reengineering is best represented as
innovation improvements, or the leap from one S-curve to another. It is a planned change to
achieve innovation improvement and is the counterpart to kaizen.
11. A kaizen event focuses on a particular process, its problems and wastes. The event is
conducted by a team facilitated by an expert (person experienced in lean production and team
facilitation), led by the process owner (supervisor or manager who oversees the process), and
include people who work in and are knowledgeable about the process. In addition to attacking
problems and wastes in the process, a purpose of the event is to demonstrate and teach lean
principles and methods. The event begins with a kick-off meeting, starting with a presentation
about the focus and scope of the project, and a review of lean concepts and analysis methodology.
The kaizen team sets measurable targets and decides on the data it needs to analyze the process.
After a tour of the physical facility of the process, the team discusses its findings and creates a
map out the process. Over the next few days, the team collects more data and meets several

more meetings, during which it create a more authentic, detailed map of the process. It
identified areas of waste on the map, developed improvement plans, and set about immediately
to begin implementing the changes.
12. The seven problem solving tools include the check sheet, histogram, Pareto analysis,
scatter diagram, process flowchart, cause-and-effect analysis and the run diagram.
The check sheet is a special sheet created for recording data from observations.
The histogram is a graphical method for showing the frequency distribution (number of
occurrences) of a variable.
Pareto analysis is a tool for separating the vital few problems from the trivial many
problems.
A scatter diagram is a tool for revealing the potential relationship between two variables.
A process flowchart shows the relevant steps in a procedure or process, and the role they
play in the process.
Cause-and-effect analysis is a method for listing possible causes (sources) of a given effect
(problem).
A run diagram is a continuous plot of results versus time for the purpose of revealing
abnormalities or patterns.
13. Value stream mapping (VSM) is a flowcharting methodology that uses standard icons and
diagramming principles to visually display the steps in the process and the material and
information flowing through it, start to finish. The methodology focuses on the value stream,
which is the sequence of all activities, both value-added and nonvalue-added, in the creation of a
particular product or service. VSM starts with data collection and creating a map for the
current process. That map, the current state map, is used to stimulate conjecture about
opportunities for improvement and how the process ought to look, and to create an ideal or
future state map.
14. After a problem solver has prepared a plan, he seeks consensus from everyone involved
with or affected by the plan to help ensure that not only have the necessary perspectives been
considered, but that the plan can be readily implemented. For example, senior-level managers
pass a plan or goal to the managers below them, who translate it into a plan at their level, which
they toss back to the managers above them and ask “is this what you intended?” Then senior
managers modify their goal or plan to accommodate the subordinates’ plans. The process goes
back and forth until both sides reach consensus. Next, the middle managers toss their plans to
lower level managers, and the process repeats.
Nemawashi refers to the process of circulating a plan or proposal among affected parties to gain
consensus or approval. The proposal is passed back and forth among parties and modified to
incorporate their suggestions and opinions. The final formal approval is then merely a
formality because consensus will have been achieved and approval tacitly conveyed.
15. A3 is the designation for a standard 11” x 17” sheet of paper commonly used in Japan.
The format for every A3 is somewhat standardized, with topics listed in logical order. The

typical A3 report includes data charts, value stream maps, and fishbone and Pareto diagrams, and
so on.
A3 reports can be used in a variety of ways, the three most common being for problem-solving,
presenting a proposal, and describing the status of a plan, problem, or issue. Each of these
kinds of reports corresponds to different steps of the PDCA cycle:
A problem-solving A3 is written after the Plan, Do, and Check steps are completed (although
it must be started much earlier).
A proposal A3 is written during the Plan step but before starting the Do step.
A status A3 is written during and after completing the Check and Act steps.

Solutions to Problems
*1. The answer to this problem is somewhat open-ended. The purpose of the problem is to
stimulate discussion.
One obvious question the listing of the costs raises, is, why are the overhead and administrative costs
so high? To achieve big savings, a good place to begin is with the sources of the biggest costs. In
the past, sources of costs associated with high overhead were ignored in cost reduction efforts, though
now more companies are starting to seriously look at them. In fact, the thrust of many process
reengineering programs is to improve the effectiveness and reduce costs of activities commonly
labeled as overhead. Since material is the other major cost factor listed, cost reduction efforts should
focus there too.
Although productivity efforts commonly focus on the shop floor and on direct labor, in the case
shown even substantial cost savings in labor and processes might have relatively small effect on
overall costs.
2. The histogram indicates that most customers wait 4-7 seconds.

3. The histogram indicates that most complaints are for ambiguous charges. To reduce
complaints this area should be addressed first.
4. The pattern indicates that the number of defects decreases with increasing machine speed
until approximately 2200 rpm, after which it increases. Further investigation is necessary
to determine if machine speed is the cause of this defect pattern.

5.a.
b.
c. The sum of the delivery problems, 262, is greater than the number of deliveries, 204,
because some deliveries have more than one problem. The tally sheet should be modified to
permit tallying of multiple, simultaneous problems on a single delivery (e.g., too-large
shipment batch and excessive defects in the delivery).
d. To find solutions to the delivery problems, begin by looking closely at the delivery
process, which includes the processes of preparing shipping bills, scheduling the deliveries,
and all material handling prior to delivery. A process flow diagram would be constructed
and analyzed to suggest places in the process where problems originate, and data would be
collected at these places using tally sheets. Cause-and-effect diagrams would also be used to
identify other possible causes of problems, and the places in the process where data should be
gathered. Data would then be analyzed using Pareto analysis, scatter diagrams, and so on.

*6.
a. Withdrawing money from b. Programming a VCR to record
an ATM machine. a one-time broadcast.
c. Depends on your level of experience in downhill skiing.
d. Depends on your experience and imagination.
*7. Try to eliminate the steps that do not add value to the process. For example, for (a) and (b):
a. Select fewer buttons on the ATM. However, since all the buttons currently used are
necessary, this would not result in improvement. Technology improvements might eventually
lead to direct access to cash at home and eliminate the need to travel to an ATM machine. (For
example, a dollar amount could be encoded on a credit card by a device attached to a home
computer. This, of course, replaces one process with another that is possibly no less
complicated, but it does eliminate the need to go the cash station.)
b. The user should be able to go directly to the "program" option (and eliminate the select
"menu" button step). The user should also be able to directly enter the date of the program (and
eliminate the select "line 1" to enter the program request). The steps for entering the date, start
time, stop time and channel for a program could be eliminated by the simply entering the code
specified for each program in the TV listings. These codes are unique for each program.

b. Various answers. Some examples follow.
Late for work: Check to see if you are getting up on time (do you hit snooze or shut off the
alarm clock to sleep longer).
Paint dripping on face: Check to see if you have too much paint initially on the roller, which
causes you to put too much on the ceiling.
Higher grocery bill than neighbor:Check to see the quantity of items bought and from where
they were bought.
Lousy coffee: Try another brand and see what happens.
Business contact not returning calls: Check to see if she has gotten your messages (make
inquiries on fax or e-mail).
New appliance won't work: Check to see if it is plugged in, is turned on, and you have
followed all the directions.
*9. Various answers.
*10.a. This process is complex (and ambiguous) enough to cause different interpretations. The
assignment will lead students to develop different-looking flow charts. It raises the important
point of being very precise when defining a process for purposes of analysis and improvement.
On the next page is one possible flow chart.
b. Every step of the process should be reviewed for improvement opportunities.
Improvement can occur by redesigning each step, a sequence of steps, or even the entire
process reengineering). Following are some possible ways to improve steps and portions of
the process:
To improve the quality of service, the representatives who take calls can be trained to sort the
complaints by severity. A computer system could be installed to help specialists decide if
the technical problem is in their area of expertise. A specialist could determine from the
computer system if a warranty covers the parts and charges. For informational problems,
the call should be sorted and directed to the right person according to pre-specified procedure
(the manager should not have to decide where every call should be directed).
The status of any problem requiring immediate attention should be updated by the specialist
assigned to the problem.

11. Zemco's president might conclude that the plastic is at the end of the incremental
improvement curve because, in spite of R&D efforts, no advances are happening in the plastic’s

technology or profit advantage. He might decide that there are few new things to be learned
about or exploited from the plastic, and to aim Zemco's R&D away from the plastic and toward
looking for something new.
*12. It is important to determine the nature of the productivity efforts instituted at Division A
before sending people there from Division B. The CEO of Cylo needs to examine the personnel,
products and processes. It might be that equipment at Division A is older than at Division B, or
that Division A is strapped with older (and possibly outdated) processes and procedures.
Perhaps, however, the differences between Division A and Division B stem from each being at a
different point on the S-curve, especially with respect to the improvement thresholds for each.
Division A has been operating for ten years, and possibly over that time its products and processes
have been improved to the level where further improvements are very costly. Division B is younger
and so are its products and processes, so possibly there is greater opportunity for improvement. Thus,
perhaps, the best action for the CEO to take is the opposite of what he is considering. If Division A’s
products and processes have reached the improvement threshold, then transferring designers and
engineers from Division B to Division A would be wasted effort and only serve to dilute Division B's
improvement, whereas transferring them from Division A to Division B would enhance Division B's
improvement -- and possibly have no effect on the performance of Division A.

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Jones, dressed from head to heels in black, came up to the table
and stopped, never taking his eyes off the girl.
“So I have found you at last, have I, Miss Dugan?” he said in a low
tone, as he coolly sat down at the table. “A nice trick you played me,
but it was foolish of you to think you could lose me so easily.”
“Pardon me, sir,” said Frank, “I will not permit you to address a
lady in my company in such an insulting manner. If you do not retire
at once and cease to annoy her, I’ll call an officer, and have you
arrested.”
Jones actually smiled.
“I hardly think you will,” he said sneeringly.
Frank longed to knock him down.
“I swear I will!” he said, ready to keep his word.
“If you do,” said Jones easily, “she will spend to-night in a cell.”
The girl shuddered, and shrank away. Merry was startled and set
back, all at once struck by the fear that this girl had done something
criminal, else how dared the man speak in such a manner.
“If she has,” thought Frank, “she will stop me.” And he turned as if
to call a waiter and ask for an officer.
Again Hilda clutched his arm, panting:
“Please don’t do it. It will do no good!”
Jones stood by, triumphant, smiling, sneering.
“Why don’t you call an officer, sir?” he asked.
“I ought to, you miserable whelp!” muttered Merry, baffled. “I
ought to call one and demand that you be arrested for an attempt to
murder me in the Maine woods three years ago.”
This gave the man a start, and he stared at Merry in
astonishment.

“You?” he said. “Why, who the dickens are you? Hanged if I don’t
believe you are the chap Dugan planned to blow up with powder!
Yes, you are!”
“Right! And you are the miserable dog who aided him in that little
piece of work. I am very sorry we met here. Had it been elsewhere,
it would have given me great satisfaction to thrash you till you
begged like a cur at my feet!”
Jones showed his teeth.
“That might not prove such an easy thing to do,” he snarled, in a
low tone. “So she fled to you, did she? And I suppose she is blowing
you to this feed off the boodle? Well, I’ve found her, and now she’ll
have to give it up! I’ve fooled with her for the last time. If she won’t
marry me, she can go; but first she must give me my doll.”
Frank wondered if he had understood correctly. What could the
man want of a doll? Was it slang of some sort?
The girl sat staring at Jones, as if in doubt about what she would
do. Frank longed to aid her in some way, but her fears had made
him hesitate about moving.
“Where is it?” hissed Jones, fixing her with his eyes. “Give it to
me! If you do that I’ll leave you and trouble you no more. I shall be
glad to get rid of you, for you cannot be trusted.”
She leaned forward.
“You deceived me—or tried to,” she declared accusingly. “You told
me there were nothing but private papers hidden in her.”
“So you have investigated?” he returned. “I knew it! It belongs to
me—every bit of it!”
“I do not believe it.”
“I swear it does!”
“Even so, you are a criminal whom I might turn over to the
officers.”

“And you would turn yourself over to them at the same time, for
you are my accomplice.”
This talk was very puzzling to Merriwell, who wondered what it
could all be about.
“We are attracting attention,” said the girl. “Go away. I will meet
you to-morrow at ten o’clock.”
“Don’t think me such a fool! I’ll never leave you again for a single
moment till that doll is in my hands.”
The girl’s dark eyes flashed.
“You may have to,” she said.
“Oh, not much! You can’t slip me, for I know you now, and I’ll
never trust you again.”
She began to tap her foot, while he stood there, cool and
triumphant, grinning down upon her.
“Where is the money my father left?” she demanded, still in a
repressed voice, in order not to attract attention. “When you give me
that you shall have your old doll and its contents.”
“He left nothing.”
“I know better!”
“Very well. It is folly to argue with a woman who has made up her
mind in advance. I will not contradict you.”
“I want that money.”
“I have no objections; want it as much as you like.”
“You knew where it was hidden.”
“Did I?”
“Yes.”
“That is news to me.”

“While he was alive you dared not touch it, for you knew he would
hunt you down and kill you if you did. He had confidence in you, and
so when he died he left you to turn the money over to me. Not one
dollar of it have you ever given me.”
“You have been dreaming dreams. But, perhaps, if you obeyed
your father and married me some of your dreams would have come
true.”
“That’s enough!” she said. “That is a confession that there was
money! You shall not rob me! When you give it to me you shall have
your doll.”
He remained calm and self-confident.
“It is not a confession. There was no money, but I might have
given you some of my own, for I did care for you once, till I
discovered how treacherous you could be.”
Frank felt more than ever like shaking the man, but was forced to
remain quiet and listen to his insolence.
“Don’t talk to me of treachery!” breathed the girl, her face crimson
once more. “Why, I have understood you from the first, and I knew
you for just what you are—a two-faced scoundrel and a craven! You
fawned at the feet of my father, tempted many times to rob him of
his ill-gotten gains, yet prevented from doing so by the picture of
him upon your track, gun in hand. When he died, your fears ended,
and you did not hesitate to break your oath to him and rob his child.
You are a scoundrel all the way through! There is not one manly
streak in you!”
Still she had kept her voice down, but now Frank had observed
that the manner of the speakers and their earnest tones were
causing curious eyes to be turned in that direction. Had the
restaurant been well filled such a conversation must have been
impossible without others to overhear it.
Jones laughed shortly.

“More of your dreams, young woman. It is useless to argue. All I
want is my property, and then I will leave you to this gallant youth,
of whom you have raved ever since the day he jumped into the
water for you on Grand Lake. Perhaps he will marry you, as you
have hoped, but I have my doubts.”
It was with the greatest difficulty that Merry refrained from
leaping up and knocking the wretch down at once.
“If the opportunity comes,” said Frank, looking Jones in the face,
“I shall make you beg the lady’s pardon for your insults.”
Jones made a motion as if to snap his fingers, but refrained from
doing so.
“Better not try it when the opportunity comes,” he advised. “You
know the occupation in which I have been engaged for some years,
and it has been my habit to carry a gun or knife where it will always
be easy to draw. I promise you to return your blows with bullets or
cold steel.”
“The threat of a coward!” said Frank. “But I am looking for the
opportunity just the same. If you pull a pistol or knife on me, it will
give me all the better excuse to thrash you within an inch of your
life.”
Now, Merriwell knew Hilda Dugan must have talked of him often.
Frank also knew she had entertained wild hopes of meeting him
again, and this sneering creature beside the table had betrayed that
she must have sometimes told him she would never marry anybody
but a youth like the Yale man.
Hilda was covered with mortification, knowing full well that Merry
must understand—must comprehend the secret love she had carried
in her heart ever since that day on Grand Lake three years before.
“Let’s go!” she entreated, beginning to tremble all over. “I am
afraid I cannot stand it longer. I shall make a scene of some sort.”
“And the dinner is spoiled already,” said Merry, motioning to a
waiter. “We’ll go.”

“And I’ll go with you!” muttered Jones.
Merry paid the check, assisted Hilda to don her coat, quietly
tipped the waiter who aided him into his, and turned with the girl to
leave the restaurant.
Curious eyes followed them as they passed out.
Jones was at their heels.

Lean Production for Competitive Advantage A Comprehensive Guide to Lean Methodologies and Management Practices 1st Nicholas Solution Manual

CHAPTER XII
THE SECRET OF THE DOLL.
As they were passing out to the sidewalk Hilda’s hand fell on
Frank’s arm and her voice whispered in his ear:
“What can we do? He is close behind. If you turn on him, he will
meet you with knife or pistol. It will be in the papers to-morrow. The
whole truth will come out, and I shall be arrested.”
He saw that she, usually so brave, was in great terror of
something, and he did not believe her fear was inspired entirely by
Jones.
What caused it?
Had this girl committed a crime of some sort that caused her to
fear the relentless hand of the law?
Even so, he pitied her. Even so, he would stand by her and try to
aid her. What better could be expected of the daughter of Enos
Dugan, the smuggler! She had been brought up in an atmosphere of
lawlessness; had been taught as a little child that the law was an
oppressor and that it was not wrong to defy and defeat it.
No matter what happened to her, she should not lack for a friend.
She had dreamed heroic things of this youth at her side, and he
would not disappoint her in the supreme moment.
But Frank was uncertain of the proper course to pursue. He did
not doubt that she had spoken the truth in warning him that the
man close behind would be ready to meet him with a deadly weapon

the moment they reached the sidewalk. Not only that, but Merry had
no heart for a street fight while accompanied by a woman.
How otherwise was Jones to be shaken? He would cling to them
like a leech. Frank was turning this over in his mind as they passed
out by the door and descended the steps to the sidewalk.
The moment the sidewalk was reached Jones stepped forward till
he was at the other side of Hilda, saying:
“We will all take a cab to the place where you are stopping. There
you can quietly hand the doll over to me. I give you my promise to
depart quietly and never trouble you again in case my property has
been returned to me in full. You will be free of me forever, and that
is what you have paid——”
At that moment, with a snarling cry, a man who had been
lingering in front of Shanley’s launched himself on Jones, whom he
clutched by the throat.
Frank had seen the figure dart forward and spring, and he swung
Hilda out of the way of harm.
“You!” cried the assailant, as he grasped Jones’ throat. “You are
the worst one of them all! You would ruin her body and soul! But
your time has come!”
“It’s Tom Stevens!” gasped Hilda.
It was the maniac who had twice attacked Merry, and he was
handling Jones roughly just then.
“Let go, you fool!” gasped the man who had been attacked.
Then he twisted about and grappled with the other. A moment
later both were sprawling on the paving. Frank saw his opportunity.
Grasping Hilda’s arm, he quietly said:
“Come!”
He hurried her straight to the nearest empty hansom.

“Down Seventh Avenue in a hurry!” he said to the driver, as he
sprang in after Hilda.
As the hansom turned they caught a glimpse of one of the
combatants, who dragged himself from the other and ran toward
them shouting. The whip of the driver cracked, the horse leaped
forward, and they were away, the cool wind whistling into their
faces.
“A piece of luck,” said Frank. “If that fellow had not jumped on
Jones just then, I know not how we would have given him the slip.”
“Have we?” asked Hilda, still agitated.
“I think so.”
“Are you sure?”
Merriwell tried to look back. Then he rattled the little trap-door in
the roof of the cab till the driver opened it and looked down.
“Look out, driver,” said Frank, “that we are not followed. Look back
and tell me if you think any one tries it.”
A moment later the driver called down:
“I believe somebody is coming after us in a hansom.”
“Jones!” cried Hilda, clinging to Frank’s arm.
“Dodge that hansom, driver,” said Frank, “and I will give you ten
dollars!”
“I’ll try it, sir.”
Into Fortieth Street they whirled, the horse flying along. Down
Eighth Avenue they sped for a distance, and then again they turned
to the west. Down Ninth Avenue cut the hansom for a single block,
and then it doubled back to Eighth.
At every turn Frank and Hilda had been able to look back and see
the cab in pursuit, which held after them persistently. That is, at
every turn until the double back toward Eighth Avenue. When that
was made the other cab had not yet turned the corner into Ninth.

“You are getting away from him, driver!” shouted Frank, having
thrust up the little door; but the wheels were rumbling over the
rough paving so it is doubtful if the man above heard or understood.
Back to Eighth they went, and the driver promptly turned up the
avenue. But he wheeled to the west again at the next corner and
was once more driving toward Ninth. Frank laughed with
satisfaction.
“We struck the right man,” he said.
“What do you mean?” questioned the girl.
“This fellow must have done some dodging before, for he knows
all the tricks, and he can double on his own tracks in the most
artistic manner. He will earn his tenner, all right.”
“Then do you think we’ll give Jones the slip?”
“I think we have done so already.”
At Ninth they turned northward and proceeded three or four
blocks, when the cab rounded a corner into a side street and the
driver called down that he had lost the fellow.
“And earned your money handsomely,” declared Merry. “You shall
get the coin.”
“Where will you go now, sir?”
Merry consulted Hilda.
“I shall permit you to take me home now,” she said. “I am going
to tell you all the story and ask your advice, for I am in sore need of
it.”
She told him the street and number, which he gave to the driver,
who took them to the destination. Merriwell paid the driver the ten
dollars in addition to his regular charge, and the hansom rolled
away.
“Here is where I have been hiding,” said the girl. “I have taken
pains to slip out and in when I fancied I would not be observed by

any one who might be looking for me. I did not like to let you come
here, Mr. Merriwell, but circumstances compelled me to do so.”
“You know I stand ready to aid you, Miss Dugan, in any possible
way.”
They were on the steps, and she seemed hesitating over
something.
“Oh!” she finally exclaimed, “I wish I had a friend here!”
“You have; I am your friend.”
“I do not mean that. I wish I had a friend in this, house—a girl
friend. But even then, I could not trust the secret to her. It is for
your ears alone. Mr. Merriwell, you will understand better when you
hear my story and see what I have to show you. To make everything
clear to you, I must show you the doll.”
Again the doll!
“I am willing to look at it,” he said, with a laugh.
“It is in my room,” she said, with sudden determination. “You must
come there to see it.”
She had a key in her hand, and now she unlocked the door. Frank
followed her into the house. A dim light burned in the hall. But from
above came the sound of children at play.
They ascended the stairs. A door was standing slightly open, and
the children’s voices came from that room. Hilda’s room was on the
same floor. Frank stood outside the door until she had entered and
lighted the gas. Then he came in, and she asked him to leave the
door standing open. The room was small and rather poorly
furnished.
“If there had been any other way, I would not have asked you
here,” she again declared.
She gave him a chair and he sat down. From the distant room
came the sound of the romping children, shouting to each other as
they played.

Hilda’s trunk was in the room. She unlocked it and took something
out. When she turned to Frank she held in her hands a handsome
wax doll, which had been carefully and expensively dressed.
“Here,” she said, noting the wonder in his face, “is what has
caused all the trouble.”
All along he had fancied it might not really be a doll, but now he
saw it was. She smiled as she heard him whistle softly to himself.
“Isn’t she handsome?” asked the girl.
“Very pretty,” he acknowledged, his wonder increasing.
“Oh, I think she is perfectly lovely!” Hilda declared, caressing the
doll.
“Great Scott!” thought Frank. “Is the girl daffy, too?”
“I’ve always admired dolls,” Hilda explained. “When I was a little
girl I had no doll save an old rag one, but I loved it and petted it and
talked to it, for it was my only companion during many a long, weary
day.”
She sat down facing Frank and continued:
“As I grew older my love for dolls seemed to grow with me,
instead of lessening. In Vanceborough, I had seen some dolls with
china heads, and to my eyes they were the most beautiful things in
all the world. When father brought one home to me I was filled with
joy too deep for words. But the china head was broken one day, and
it nearly broke my heart at the same time. I had heard of large wax
dolls that closed their eyes when put to sleep and said ‘ma-ma’ when
squeezed, but such stories seemed far too marvelous to be true.
“However, when I went away to school I saw one of them, and
then I could never be satisfied till I had one for my very own. Of
course I got it, and I kept it many years, dressing and undressing it,
talking to it, telling it all my little secrets and having it to keep me
from loneliness there on that dreary island. Maybe you can see,
living as I did without other companions, that it was not strange that

my love for dolls clung to me as I grew to be a young woman. When
I went to Boston I took my doll and had it with me in my room,
though I was careful not to let people know much about it, for I had
begun to be ashamed.
“But Huck Jones, who was my father’s companion during so many
years, came to know all about my fondness for dolls. He knew it
clung to me even after I was a girl in long dresses. Sometimes he
laughed at me and tried to tease me about it, but I had a temper
and I soon convinced him that he had better keep still.
“After father died Jones made arrangements to go abroad. He did
so, but all the while he led me to believe there was something
coming to me when he returned. I had refused to marry him, but I
still hoped against hope that he might relent and turn over to me a
part of the money I felt confident my father had left.
“He wrote to me several times while he was on the other side. At
last he wrote that he was coming back by the way of Canada, asking
me to meet him in Montreal. His letter was most ingenious, for he
promised to reveal to me something I wished to know very much,
and he added that he had purchased the handsomest doll he could
find in all Europe, which he was bringing to me.
“I met him as appointed. He had the doll, which he gave me, but
he refused to tell me the secret till we met again in Boston, for he
declared he had some business that would delay him a few days,
while I was to go on to Boston the following day. It seems that he
had met a lady with two charming children who would be on the
same train with me, and he urged me to permit the oldest girl, who
was nine, to hold the doll as much as she liked on the way to
Boston. But I was to take the doll when the time came for us to
leave the train and care for it till he met me at the Adams House. If
the doll was in my hands and all right he would tell me the secret
then.
“Well, I followed his directions. Everything went well, but I kept
thinking over his curious directions. As we crossed into the United

States the little girl was sleeping with my doll hugged to her heart.
She cried a little when she had to give it up as Boston was reached.
“That night in my room at the Adams House I learned the secret
of the doll—the secret Jones was to reveal to me when we met. I
also learned that I had committed a crime. This doll looks pretty and
expensive, does it not? Well, Mr. Merriwell, I’ll wager you can’t guess
how much it is worth.”
Frank shrugged his shoulders.
“Ten dollars, perhaps,” he said.
“Ten thousand, if a cent!” declared Hilda Dugan.
He wondered if she could be in her right mind.
“I knew you would stare!” she laughed excitedly, her face flushed
and her hands trembling. “But you will stare still more when I show
you the secret of the doll. Look!”
She opened the doll’s dress, exposing the body, and then, as she
touched a hidden spring, a coverlike lid flew upward.
The doll lay on its back across Hilda’s knees, and a cry broke from
Frank as he stared at it, for he saw that its body was literally stuffed
with glittering diamonds!

CHAPTER XIII
HILDA GETS HER RIGHTS.
“Can they be real?” gasped Merry, amazed.
“Of course they are!” cried the girl. “And I helped smuggle them
into the United States. Don’t you see through the trick now? I didn’t
know till after it was all over. Before I was a smuggler’s daughter,
now I am a smuggler! Do you wonder that I have been afraid? Do
you wonder that I have hidden myself away?”
“But Jones——”
“When I realized what I had done, what he had led me to do, I
lost no time in packing and hastening from Boston. I took the doll
with me, you may be sure, for I knew, as I know now, that its
precious contents were purchased with my father’s money and really
belong to me.”
“Then you are rich!” exclaimed Merriwell, still fascinated by the
glitter of the diamonds.
She wrung her hands.
“No, no!” she cried. “For though these diamonds belong to me,
how can I prove it?”
Frank realized all the difficulties of her position and he was
somewhat bewildered himself, not finding a ready answer.
“I have brought you here to advise me,” she went on. “You must
tell me what to do. I will not give these diamonds up to Jones. Yet I

cannot keep them. If I turn them over to the authorities, it is not
likely I’ll ever see them again, for am I not the daughter of a
smuggler? Who will believe my story?”
Frank sat there in silence for a few moments.
“It is the only thing you can do, Miss Dugan,” he said, at last. “I
will go with you to the custom-house. The question will be solved
there. We cannot solve it ourselves.”
She seemed to hesitate, but he talked to her calmly, and soon
convinced her that it was the only way.
“I will take your advice,” she said, at last. “At least, Jones shall not
have these gems.”
She closed the opening and hid the precious stones from view.
The doll was wrapped in a cloak, and they prepared to leave the
house, for Frank advised immediate action.
As they descended the steps to the sidewalk, a man who had
been lurking near rushed upon Merry. Tossing the bundle to Hilda,
Frank turned to meet the fellow, who cried:
“I have finished one of the devils to-night with his own knife, and
now I’ll finish you before you complete your work of destruction!”
It was Tom Stevens. Frank barely avoided the fellow’s rush, and
Stevens caught his foot somehow, plunging headlong against the
stone steps as he fell. He lay still.
“He’s hurt!” cried Hilda.
“Stunned, probably,” said Frank. “We’ll send an officer to care for
him. Let’s lose no time.”
So, leaving him there, they looked for an officer, whom they soon
found and told him that a man had fallen and injured himself.
Then they went on to the custom-house, carrying their precious
burden.

Jack Diamond had fancied Merriwell was with Inza. He was not a
little surprised when Frank appeared and told his story.
The following morning the newspapers told how Hilda Dugan had
brought the doll and its valuable contents to the custom-house,
where she had turned it over to the officers. Her complete story was
included, but it ended with the information that the smuggler, Jones,
was dying in the hospital, having been attacked in front of Shanley’s
and stabbed by an unknown man.
In an obscure corner of the paper was an item about a strange
man who had been picked up on the steps of a house, having a
fractured skull. He, also, was in the hospital, and it was not thought
he would recover. This man was Tom Stevens.
Jones did not last through the day, but before he passed away
Hilda stood beside him, and he confessed that the money with which
he had purchased the diamonds on the other side of the ocean had
belonged to her father and been left for her.
This confession of the dying man was taken down by a
stenographer, written out in full, signed by Jones, and sworn to
before witnesses.
At Frank’s advice, Hilda had secured the services of an able lawyer,
and he was present when the confession was made. He
congratulated her when it was over and the paper was in his
possession.
“This fixes it very nicely,” he declared. “You will obtain your rights
now, Miss Dugan. Of course, the duty on the diamonds must be
paid, but the Government will be unable to hold them, for you were
innocent of any intent to do wrong, and you set yourself right by
turning over the diamonds to the authorities. I am informed there
was over twenty thousand dollars’ worth of stones, so you are a rich
girl.”
“And all because I took the advice of Frank Merriwell,” said she. “If
I had not, it would not have come out so well.”

In the hospital she found Tom Stevens and saw that everything
possible was done for him. He did not know her, but he told her of a
beautiful girl far away in Maine whom he loved, but who cared
nothing for him. Her eyes were red from unshed tears when she left
him.
That evening Frank called on Hilda. He brought Jack Diamond
along, and the Virginian was afterward forced to confess that the girl
from Maine was as charming in her manners and conversation as
she had appeared when he first saw her on Twenty-third Street.
“Yes,” Jack told himself, “she is much like Juliet, only she lacks a
certain refinement Juliet possesses.”
At the same time Frank was thinking:
“How much like Inza she is! I don’t think I ever noticed it before;
but she lacks a certain subtle charm that Inza possesses—something
that seems to belong to Inza alone.”
And Hilda was thinking:
“Jack Diamond is handsome, but he cannot compare with Frank
Merriwell. Frank is the handsomest fellow in all the world, and in the
future, as in the past, he’ll always be my hero.”

CHAPTER XIV
FRANK’S INFLUENCE.
“Drop it!”
Crash!
The command had come like a pistol-shot. The glass fell instantly,
smashing on the polished bar, over which flowed the amber-hued
liquid.
“Merriwell?”
Dick Starbright, pale as snow, turned as he gasped the name.
“Starbright!”
There was a world of surprise and reproach in Frank’s voice.
Dick Starbright, standing at the bar of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, had
lifted the glass of whisky to his lips when Frank stepped into the
room and uttered the sharp command. The big Yale freshman
dropped his glass as if it had suddenly burned his fingers.
Frank came forward, his eyes fastened steadily on Dick, who
leaned against the bar weakly, his pallor giving place to a flush of
shame.
“This is a surprise,” said Merry.
“Rather!” choked Dick.
“I thought you were in New Haven.”
“I’m not.”

“That is plain. But what are you doing here?”
“I was on the point of taking a drink,” said Starbright, endeavoring
to regain his composure, “when the sound of your voice caused me
to let the glass slip from my fingers. Bartender, give me another
glass. I’ll pay for the one I broke.”
The man behind the bar, who had been picking up the pieces of
glass and wiping the liquid from the polished wood, immediately sat
out another glass and the bottle of whisky.
“What’s yours, sir?” he asked, looking at Merriwell.
But Frank simply shook his head, standing quite still and watching
Dick Starbright, who, with a show of recklessness, proceeded to
pour another glass of whisky. But Dick’s hand was not quite steady,
and there was a look of shame on his face. However, having been
detected in the act, it was plain that he meant to brazen it out.
“I know it’s useless to ask you to join me,” he said to Frank, but
without permitting his eyes to meet the pair that were regarding him
steadily with a gaze of mingled sorrow and reproach.
“What has happened to my friends?” thought Frank. “Here’s
Starbright following in Diamond’s footsteps. I caught Jack just in
time to pull him up with a round turn, and now I’ve got another job
on my hands.”
With a pretense of defiant carelessness, the big Andover man
lifted the glass. Frank’s hand fell on his arm.
“Wait a minute, Dick,” he urged gently. “How many drinks have
you taken before this?”
“Not any,” was the answer that gave Merry a sensation of great
relief, for he knew that one drink was enough to set the fire raging
in Starbright’s veins and make him mad for more.
“That being the case,” said Frank, in a quiet tone, “let’s talk this
matter over a little before you take the first one.”

“It’s no use, Merriwell,” asserted the big, blond freshman. “I know
what you mean to say, but I’ve got to take this drink.”
Now he gave Frank a defiant look, but his eyes drooped almost
instantly.
“You must be in a bad way if you feel like that,” said Merry, still in
that calm, unagitated manner.
“The devil is in me!” confessed Starbright. “He is calling for
whisky, and I’m going to give him enough to drown him. Ha, ha,
ha!”
Merriwell did not remember ever having seen Dick in such a
reckless and desperate mood. There was a wild light in the eyes of
the freshman, and his air was that of one who cares not a snap what
may happen, and would not turn one step out of his path to avoid
meeting death itself.
Frank knew there was a cause for all this. He knew something had
brought Starbright down here to New York and thrown him into this
exceedingly reckless mood, and he wished to discover without delay
what that something could be.
“It will take a lot of whisky to drown the devil,” said Frank. “I don’t
think there is enough distilled in the world to accomplish that feat.
Men have been trying to drown the old fellow in whisky ever since
the secret of manufacturing the stuff was first learned, and he has
thrived on it and grown stronger every year. In fact, the devil likes
whisky just as a child likes milk. To tell the truth, I believe whisky
was an invention of the devil, to begin with, and I know that more
than anything else it has served him as a snare for the unwary feet
of foolish human beings who fancy they can master it. But I’m not
here to deliver a temperance lecture, Starbright. I happened to look
into this place in search of Diamond, and I saw you. My boy, let me
pay for that stuff, but do not drink it now. Come up to my room, and
we’ll have a little talk. After that is over, if you are determined to
drink, I’ll not oppose you.”
But Dick shook his head.

“I know all that you would say, Merry,” he declared. “It’s all true.
The stuff is my one temptation and my curse. If I take this drink, I
may go straight to the dogs, but what of that! It will help me to
forget that I have been fooled by a pair of black eyes, and that I
betrayed the best friend a chap ever had. Down it goes!”
Frank would not release the arm of the reckless freshman.
“Not yet,” he said firmly. “You shall not take that stuff till I know
why you are so determined to drink it.”
“Because I am a fool and a traitor!”
“We’re all fools in one way or another, but traitors we are not.”
“You know I’m a sneak, Frank Merriwell!” hoarsely said Dick. “I
don’t see how you can still entertain one friendly feeling toward me.
If I received what I deserve at your hands, they’d take me away
from here in an ambulance!”
“If you had not told me that no liquor had passed your lips, I
should think you jagged already,” asserted Frank. “You are talking
like a few mixed drinks.”
“I’m talking just what I think. My eyes are open at last.”
“Well, if getting your eyes open has this effect on you, it will be a
good idea to shut them again.”
“Not much! I have been fooled twice, and it’s going to be a long
time before I’m deceived again in the same way. Let me go, Frank. I
want this drink, and I must have it!”
Frank knew that Dick would barely swallow the first drink when he
would want another. Then another, and another would follow, till the
freshman was howling drunk.
Drink had been the curse that finally conquered old Captain
Starbright, Dick’s father, and it seemed that the craving for liquor
had been inherited by the son. But Dick fought against the desire,
and fancied he had overcome it until the time when his enemies at

college succeeded in drugging him and getting him started on a
carousal just before a football-game.
Frank Merriwell had found Starbright in Rupert Chickering’s room
and rescued him, locking him up and watching over him while he
grew sober, though the “doped” lad had raved and prayed and
begged for whisky. From that time Dick had found it more difficult to
keep in restraint his desire for drink, but never until Merriwell
discovered him at the bar of the Fifth Avenue Hotel had he yielded
to the tempter.
Under ordinary circumstances, the mere sound of Merriwell’s voice
had been quite enough to cause Starbright to resist temptation, but
now a remarkable change had come over him, and he seemed
determined to drink even though it was right before Frank’s eyes,
and in defiance of his entreaties.
Merriwell knew from this that the case was desperate, but he was
determined to keep the freshman from accomplishing his purpose.
The barkeeper looked on in evident displeasure at Frank’s
interference.
“Why don’t you let him alone, young fellow?” he growled, glaring
at Merry. “He’s old enough to know his own business.”
Frank turned his eyes and gave the barkeeper a single steady
look, as he grimly said:
“And you are old enough to mind your own business. He is my
friend.”
The barkeeper gurgled in his throat, plainly longing to come over
the bar and attack Merry, yet fearing to do so lest he lose his
position.
Frank again turned to Dick.
“My boy, for your own sake, you can’t afford to touch that stuff.”
“Bah!” laughed Starbright. “What do I care about myself!”
“Your career at college——”

“Is liable to come to an end mighty soon.”
“You should think of your friends.”
“A man who will treat his best friend the way I treated you can’t
be appealed to in that way,” said Starbright almost sullenly.
“But your mother, Dick—surely she has seen sorrow enough. For
her sake!”
The freshman turned pale again, and his hand shook. He put the
glass of whisky down.
“I won’t drink it—now,” he huskily declared, as he flung some
money on the bar and turned away. “I tried not to think of her. I
must get out of here, Merriwell!”
Frank had conquered, and he walked from the room with his arm
passed through that of the big Andover man. He took Starbright up
to his room. Diamond was not there, and thus they found
themselves alone.
“Sit down,” Frank invited, but Dick began to pace the floor like a
wild beast in a cage. His eyes were gleaming and the expression on
his face was one Frank had never seen there before.
“I can’t sit down!” he said. “I must do something. I feel like
smashing something!”
“If you feel that way now, how would you have felt after getting a
few drinks inside you?”
“I’d been pretty sure to raise Cain. It’s likely I’d brought up in a
police-station.”
“You must tell me what it’s all about,” said Merry. “You know I can
be trusted, for I am your friend.”
The big, handsome freshman whirled about in the middle of the
room, flinging out his hand in a gesture of remonstrance.
“There is no reason why you should be my friend!” he declared.
“You did everything you could for me when I first came to Yale. Even

though I was a mere freshman and you so far above me, you
showed me such kindness that they came to call me your protégé. I
was proud of it, and I felt that you were the finest fellow in the
whole world. I wrote to my mother and brother telling them all
about you, and what you had done for me. I swore I was willing to
serve you, even to the cost of my life. I believed it then, but after
that, fooled, enchanted, fascinated, and maddened by a pair of black
eyes, I played the traitor to you! Now, why should you remain my
friend? I don’t know of a reason!”
Frank walked up to Dick, placing his hands on the freshman’s
shoulders and gazing straight into his blue, eyes.
“My dear boy,” he said, “some things happen in this world despite
ourselves. I know what you mean now, but perhaps you fancy you
did me a greater wrong than was truly the case.”
“No; I did not do you a wrong!” was Dick’s surprising statement. “I
believe I did you a good turn; but, at the same time, it was a piece
of unfairness and treachery, for I knew you had cared for Inza
Burrage—I knew I had no right to come between you and her.”
“You are strangely contradictory, Starbright. If you did not do me
a wrong, if what you did was a good thing for me, why should I not
remain your friend? Why should I feel resentment toward you?”
“Because you do not know—yet. I know, for I have seen with my
own eyes. Oh, she is the handsomest girl in all the world, Merriwell,
but she is just as false and fickle as she is handsome!”
Frank looked graver than ever.
“You are excited and hasty, else you would not make such a
charge against her, Starbright!” he declared.
“Excited I may be, but I am not hasty. I have a reason, Merriwell,
you may be sure of that. I don’t wish to get rid of any of the blame,
but if she were not fickle, why did she so readily turn from you to
me?”

“Because she felt certain that between us there could never be a
tie stronger than mere friendship.”
“Why did she feel certain of that? Merriwell, are you saying this
just to make me feel less like a sneak?”
“Not at all.”
“Are you sure?” asked Dick, with great eagerness. “It would be
like you to treat a fellow generous in that way. How do you know
Inza felt as you say?”
“She had told me so!”
“When?”
“Almost two years ago.”
Starbright seemed more surprised than ever.
“I can hardly believe it! Why, all the fellows thought her struck on
you! You seemed to be the only one she cared for.”
“We were the best of friends, my boy; but it is the truth that Inza
herself told me we could never be anything but friends. I do not say
this to soothe your feelings, but because I do not wish you to regard
yourself or Inza in a wrong light. She had a right to like you, Dick,
and I don’t wonder that she did. You are——”
The freshman stopped Merry with a savage gesture.
“Don’t talk that way!” he cried. “Wait till you know everything!
When and where was it that she told you this?”
“It was one year ago last summer, on the veranda of the little
hotel in the town of Maplewood, where I was managing a baseball-
team. The season had closed, and the time of separation had come.
Inza had been spending a few weeks in Maplewood. On the evening
before the final game we were together on the veranda, and, during
the course of our talk, she frankly and plainly told me that she had
outgrown her first foolish infatuation for me, and that in the future
we were to be nothing more than the best of friends.”

Dick Starbright drew a deep breath, and then stepped back and
dropped heavily on a chair.
“You—you’re sure you are not saying this just to—to make me feel
less like a—like a miserable scoundrel?” he begged huskily.
“Surely not. Frank Merriwell is not in the habit of lying outright,
even for the sake of his friends. So you see your supposed treachery
toward me was nothing of the sort. More than that, you see Inza
had a right to prefer you, and it was none of my business.”
“I—I wondered that you did not feel like shooting me,” said Dick,
trying to force a smile, but making a sorry failure of it. “Now I
understand.”
“Is it thoughts like these that have made you reckless and driven
you to the verge of drink, my boy?”
Starbright shook his head.
“They were not all,” he asserted. “There is another reason. I will
confess that I was tortured with jealousy after leaving you at the
Grand Central and starting for New Haven. I knew, or I thought I
knew, that you were going back to see Inza. You had shipped me
off, to get rid of me, so you could have a clear field. I told myself
that, and it made me furious at first. I continued to be tortured by
such thoughts after reaching college. I could not study, sleep, train,
or do anything. I was in a frightful condition. Worse than everything
was the thought that you were with Inza and I had no right to
interfere. I could not endure it, and I soon decided to come back
here and set myself right with you. I saw it was the only thing that
would enable me to rest with an easy conscience. That is what
brought me to New York, and now you know why I am here.”
Starbright seemed relieved.
“My dear boy,” laughed Frank sympathetically, “you have been
giving yourself no end of unnecessary worry and trouble. But now
you know it was all right.”

“Perhaps it would have been better if I had remained in New
Haven,” said Dick, still looking gloomy, greatly to Frank’s
wonderment. “Then I should not have learned the truth concerning
her, even though I continued to think myself a scoundrel.”
“What do you mean?” asked Merry, puzzled by the freshman’s
words and manner.
“I don’t like to tell you, Merriwell. I’m not going to tell you. But I’m
done with her! She can’t play fast and loose with me! I’m glad you
stopped me from taking that drink, for I’d been sure to make a fool
of myself, but I am done with Miss Burrage forever!”
He had risen, and now he was pacing the floor again, his blue
eyes flashing and his fair face pale with the emotion that possessed
him.
“Are you daffy, Starbright?” exclaimed Merriwell, beginning to lose
patience. “You have fancied there was a reason why you should not
care for Inza; and now, when you find there is no such reason, you
declare you will have nothing more to do with her.”
“But there is a reason, Merriwell! Don’t let’s talk of it. It makes my
blood boil!”
Frank caught hold of his companion and brought him to a halt.
“Look here,” he said sternly; “you’ll have to talk of it, for I am
going to know what you mean. I believe Inza thinks a great deal of
you, and I do not believe you have a right to speak of her in such a
manner.”
Merry was astounded when the big freshman whirled on him like a
raging lion.
“You don’t know!” burst from Dick’s lips. “You have seen nothing
but her fine qualities. You have not observed the other side of her
character. She’s a flirt! She takes delight in deceiving men! I believe
she has deceived you, just as she did me! Oh, yes! she’s handsome,
but she’s fickle. I know what I’m talking about, Merriwell! Don’t try
to stop me! I know you’ll say I’m crazy, but I’m not! I have seen

something with my own eyes that settles everything between that
girl and myself! I am done with her, Frank Merriwell—done with her
forever!”
Then Frank gripped the gigantic Andover man, and, despite
Starbright’s remarkable strength, quickly sat him down on a chair.
“See here!” exploded Frank, a look in his eyes that the other had
never seen there before, “do you know, man, that you have stepped
over the limit? How dare you talk to me in such a way of Inza
Burrage? I have known her since she was a girl in short dresses, and
she is as pure as the stars. Man, you cannot speak of her thus
before me! You are my friend—at least, you have been. I will not
listen to such words from the lips of anybody. She is not
treacherous, and she does not take delight in deceiving men.”
Dick Starbright was appalled by the terrible earnestness of Frank
Merriwell. He sat there, staring up at Merry in wonderment, while in
his heart he was saying:
“You told me you did not care for her, but you love her—you love
her! I see it now! You may not know it, Merriwell, but you love her!”
He gave himself a slight shake, as if flinging off a spell.
“All right,” he said huskily. “I am willing that you should think so.”
But his manner of saying this made Frank more furious than ever.
His face hardened and his grip on Starbright’s shoulders was like
iron.
“By Heaven!” he said harshly; “you shall think so! You shall say so
with your own lips! You shall take back everything you have thought
and said of her that was not in praise of her. I swear it!”
It is possible that for a single moment Starbright thought of
opposing Merriwell with physical force, but the inclination passed
swiftly, and he sat there in silence, a look of defiance on his almost
boyish face.
“Go ahead!” he muttered. “I know what I’ve seen!”

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