The figure of the dance was new to Jack, but the girl was perfectly acquainted with it, and she piloted him at first, till he caught on, for it proved simple enough.

She was a graceful dancer. Jack found opportunities to converse with her. At first she was rather reticent, but he drew her out, and he was surprised to find her an agreeable and intelligent talker. He introduced himself, and she told him her name was Jennie Wren. She said her father had been to Virginia to get out ship timber, but she had never been farther away than Boston.

“Boston is a splendid city,” said Jack. “I haven’t been able to spend much time there.”

“I spent several months there,” she declared.

“Indeed! You were fortunate.”

“I think so, but you see I earned all the money to pay my tuition.”

“Your tuition?”

“Yes. I took a course at the Boston Conservatory of Music.”

Diamond nearly dropped. For some moments he was dazed and could not say a word. This girl had attended the Boston Conservatory of Music, she was pretty and seemed refined, and she was to be married to a big, bewhiskered, hulking, red-shirted ruffian who proclaimed[174] his ignorance by his general appearance, as well as his talk.

Diamond pitied her, for he had heard enough to know she was being forced into the marriage against her wishes. It was plain she really cared for the respectable-appearing young man named Bill.

When there was another opportunity to talk, the girl said:

“I taught school a long time to earn the money, but I’ve never regretted spending it as I did.”

“That’s nice,” murmured Diamond, stupidly, for he was at a loss for words now.

“Sometimes,” pursued the girl, “I’ve regretted that I came back here, but my father has been very good, and I could not leave him.”

“Of course not.”

Jack could not talk. He understood the situation now, and his brain was in a whirl. Through his head flashed wild schemes for rescuing this girl from the red-shirted ruffian and giving her to the one she loved. The thought that she might be forced into marriage with the big brute in the red shirt caused the Virginian to grind his teeth.

Diamond longed to talk to her of this, but he knew there was no way of doing so on such short acquaintance. After a time he recovered enough to talk of music, upon which he was posted and in which he was interested, and this subject proved a sympathetic bond between them.

The girl was pleased with Jack, for she saw in him the perfect gentleman, who treated her with as much courtesy as if she had been the finest lady in the land.

[175]

The dance was almost over when she shyly asked him if he waltzed. He did. She said it was not easy to find partners for the waltz, and then she blushed furiously and laughed to cover her confusion. Jack asked her to waltz with him.

“The next waltz?” she murmured.

“Of course.”

“I will. They will have a waltz after this dance, I think.”

When the quadrille was over, Jack escorted her to the ladies’ dressing room, and waited outside for her to reappear.

Barely had she entered when the big red-shirted man rudely pushed past Diamond, threw open the door of the room and entered, regardless of the fact that he had no business in there.

Jack hesitated, more than half tempted to follow. While he was hesitating, there came a shriek from the room.

With one bound the Virginian flung open the door and plunged in, beholding a spectacle that aroused him to such fury as he had not felt in months.

The man had the girl by the neck, and he was shaking her in a most brutal manner.

With a shout and a bound, the Southerner was on him. He struck the brute behind the ear, and hurled him against the wall with the force of the blow. Then he caught the half fainting girl in his arms.

But Diamond had made a mistake in thinking the blow, which would have knocked out an ordinary man, must settle the ruffian for a time.

[176]

The man recovered in a twinkling, and then, with a snarl of fury, he lunged at Diamond, tearing the girl from Jack and sending her staggering into a corner.

The Virginian felt a grip of iron close upon him. He tried to twist about, but it was not possible to do so in that clutch. Then he realized that the man had the strength of a Samson.

“Cuss ye!” grated the big ruffian. “I’ll fix ye!”

Holding Jack with one hand, he struck at him with the other. The Virginian dodged his head to one side, and the blow missed. But this simply served to make the ruffian still angrier.

However, before he could strike again, another person came............