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 whilst I'm still gaspin', "And you were my ideal!" she tells him, reproachfully.

"I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about, Miss Pearson," says the Kid in amazement. He gives my flustered face a stern look. "What does this mean, Joe?" he asks harshly.

Well, I'm caught with the goods! There's no out for me, so I told the gradually burnin' up Kid Roberts all about the talk I had with Toledo Eddie Hicks that fatal day on the beach. I tried to show the Kid where I was right, but he sharply cut me off with a cold request for the $25,000 check I got from Eddie. I meekly handed over the scrap of paper and the Kid viciously tore it to shreds before Diana's wonderin' eyes. Then he proceeded to give me as two-handed a bawlin' out as I've had in my life and I'm a A-1 judge of bawlin' outs, bein' a married man. With that all settled, Kid Roberts, still flamin', tells Diana his fight with Fleming will be on the level, the same as all his battles is and if she don't believe him now, maybe she will when he knocks Fleming stiff!

"Oh, Mister Roberts, you can't whip Fleming now—you—you must not defeat him!" cries Diana.

"Must not!" frowns the Kid, bewilderedly. Things is all comin' too fast for him.

"Must not!" repeats Diana. "After overhearing that conversation between Mister Murphy and that horrible Toledo Eddie, I told my brother you had arranged to have the bout result in a draw and—and Richard has bet seven thousand dollars that way! Wait—that isn't all. He took the money from