Badger was at Connelly's the
night before the _Crested Foam_ excursion. It is an all-night
resort--though it professes, I believe, to close at midnight. Badger
left there at about two or three o'clock, blindly intoxicated. He was
simply reeling drunk. He must have gone from there to the wharf, and
there he fell into the hands of Barney Lynn, who drugged him for his
money. This is true, Winnie. There isn't the slightest doubt about it. I
wish it were all a terrible mistake, but it isn't. And that was not the
first time that Badges had reeled out of Connelly's far into the night,
drunk. He is given to just such drunken debauches."
Winnie Lee's heart seemed to have turned to lead in her bosom. She was
cold from head to feet, except that in her cheeks bright spots burned.
Her father looked at her with anguished eyes. He noted the pallor and
the hectic spots.
"Winnie, I can't let you throw yourself away on such a fellow as Buck
Badger! You must put him out of your thoughts. He is unworthy of you. I
thought he was an honorable young man, and now I find I was mistaken. I
shall make further inquiries, but those I have made to-night are enough
to condemn him. You must not see him again, and you must have nothing
further to do with him. I want you to tell him just what I have said--or
I shall tell him myself, and give him a piece of my mind in the
bargain.
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