"
"Glad?"
"I intended to ask you into the house. Is it very wrong?"
"I don't think so!" he whispered, joy and triumph in his voice. "Where
you lead I will follow. By and by I hope we will walk abreast."
CHAPTER XX.
INTO A TRAP.
When Buck and Winnie walked into the house, they walked into a trap,
though the laying of a trap for them was not contemplated by Mr. Lee.
Encountering none of the servants, Winnie conducted Badger into the
parlor.
"Merriwell will be here soon, I allow."
"We're not afraid of Merriwell!"
"Only thinking that you and I want to have this meeting all to
ourselves. Then the servant that shows Merriwell up, if one does, may
see us, and I calculate that I ain't hankering to meet up with any of
your servants on this trip. None whatever!"
But Winnie was not disturbed.
"Father is going over to Hartford to-night on business," she laughed,
laying aside the scarf and jacket. "I heard him say to the cook that he
wouldn't return before to-morrow."
There was a certain exultant defiance in Badger's bearing that made him,
in spite of his bulky, heavy shoulders and modern clothing, somewhat
resemble some ancient knight ready to do battle for his "ladye fair."
Winnie Lee observed it, and was pleased. The Westerner's devotion was so
true that she felt rather proud of it And, indeed, Badger, in spite of
his many faults, failings, and weaknesses, had some admirable traits of
character.
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