"
"This is insufferable!" cried the bookkeeper
"You are a double-dyed traitor, Phil Stark.
You were not only my accomplice, but you
instigated the crime."
"You will find it hard to prove this," sneered Stark.
"Mr. Jennings, I demand my liberty.
If you have any humanity you will not keep
me from the bedside of my dying mother."
"I admire your audacity, Mr. Stark,"
observed the manufacturer, quietly.
"Don't suppose for a moment that I give
the least credit to your statements."
"Thank you, sir," said Gibbon. "I'm ready to
accept the consequences of my act, but I don't
want that scoundrel and traitor to go free."
"You can't prove anything against me," said
Stark, doggedly, "unless you accept the word
of a self-confessed burglar, who is angry with
me because I would not join him."
"All these protestations it would be better
for you to keep till your trial begins, Mr.
Stark," said the manufacturer. "However, I
think it only fair to tell you that I am better
informed about you and your conspiracy than
you imagine. Will you tell me where you were
at eleven o'clock last evening?"
"I was in my room at the hotel--no, I was
taking a walk. I had received news of my
mother's illness, and I was so much disturbed
and grieved that I could not remain indoors."
"You were seen to enter the office of this
factory with Mr. Gibbon, and after ten minutes
came out with the tin box under your arm."
"Who saw me?" demanded Stark, uneasily.
Carl Crawford came forward and answered this question.
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