ad visited London once on a time and endeavored to be "awfully English"
ever since. "He has not cawt the English air and expression, don't yer
understand. He--aw--makes a wegular failyaw of that, deah boys."

"Oh, say!" cried Tad Horner, "don't pile on the agony quite so thickly,
Paulding. It is nauseating!"

"Merriwell may not try to ape English manners and speech," said
Thornton, "but he is a cad, just the same, and the friends he has made
here at Yale are a lot of thin-blooded, white-livered creatures. Look at
them! There is Bruce Browning, once called 'King of the Sophomores,' but
cowed and bested by Merriwell, to be afterward dropped a class. There is
Jack Diamond, a boastful Southerner. He forced Merriwell to fight, but
fawned about Merriwell's feet like a cur when whipped."

"You lie, sir!"

By the open door a supple, well-built, dark-faced lad sprang into the
room. His eyes were flashing, and his teeth came together over his words
with a click.

It was Jack Diamond himself!

CHAPTER X.

A FIGHT AGAINST ODDS.

"Diamond!"

"Great Scott!"

"Here's trouble!"

The lads about the table sprang to their feet, giving utterance to these
exclamations. Willis Paulding was the only one who did not say anything,
and he failed to speak because the sound seemed to stick in his throat.

Diamond's manner showed that he was fully aroused by what he had
overheard, and that he meant "fight" was evident. The hot blood of the
Old South was pulsating in his veins and flaming darkly, like a danger
signal, in his face.

Pointing straight at Tom Thornton, Jack slowly and distinctly said, his
manner showing the struggle he was making to hold himself in check:

"Mr. Thornton, you are a liar! More than that, Mr. Thornton, you know
you are a liar!"

Thornton quailed a bit, and then, in sudden fury, he flung back:

"And you are an eavesdropper, Jack Diamond. Eavesdroppers seldom hear
good of themselves!"

The muscles of the Virginian's face twitched, and his clinched hands
were quivering.

"By accident I overheard what you were saying," he declared. "I was
looking for a friend, and so came into this place, which I seldom visit.
I was told a party of students had gathered here, and as I entered the
room adjoining, I heard my name spoken by you--I heard you declare that,
like a cur, I fawned about Merriwell when he had whipped me."

"And I say it again!" cried Thornton, hotly. "It is the truth. Your
boasted Sout