the fact that Badger and I are not now the friends we were once. But
it is not so. We are not friends simply because his baseness became so
apparent to me that I could no longer associate with him.

"I have thought this thing over for a good while, Mr. Lee, and as an
honorable man, I did not think I ought to remain silent and see things
go on as they are. You love your daughter, Mr. Lee?"

This last was rather an effective shot, for Fairfax Lee loved Winnie
devotedly.

"All this is very unpleasant, Mr. Pike, but I am ready to hear what you
have to say. I am free to confess that you rather surprise me."

"Your daughter is an admirable young lady, Mr. Lee. And though I cannot
say that she and I are more than the merest acquaintances, I thought it
a shame that matters should go on as they are without a word from me to
you, to let you see what your daughter is walking into. Or what she
would walk into, if she should ever be so unfortunate as to marry Buck
Badger!"

Donald Pike had at last contrived to get into his tones and manner a
sympathetic element that, while it was veriest hypocricy, was very
effective.

"My daughter is not married to Mr. Badger yet!" said Lee, somewhat
bluntly, a frown on his usually pleasant face, for his position was far
from agreeable.

"And I hope she may never be."

"You fail to specify," Lee reminded. "You make only vague charges."

"There are many things," said Pike, coming to the point now with great
boldness, "but I shall name only one. Buck Badger is a drunkard."

Fairfax Lee seemed astonished, and the frown on his face deepened.

"He is the worst type of drunkard. Not a man who drinks steadily, but
one of those who indulge now and then in crazy, drunken debauches. For
weeks, even months, he may not touch a drop of liquor. Then he will go
on a spree. You can verify this, I am sure, by inquiries carefully made
among the students. More than once he has been known to be on a drunk.
He was drunk when he went aboard the excursion steamer, _Crested Foam_,
when she was burned in the bay."

"What?"

"It is true, Mr. Lee, every word of it. Your daughter and a good many
others think he was drugged by the boat-keeper, Barney Lynn, and lured
on the steamer for the purpose of robbery. But when he met Lynn he was
already raving blind drunk, and Lynn merely took advantage of his
helpless condition. You can know that this is true if you will call or
send a man to the saloon of Joe Connelly.