"I kn0w far t00 little ab0ut any 0f the wh0le cr00kedbusiness!" he ret0rted, still enraged at his 0wn quix0ticres0lve. "That's what I was sent here t0 clean up, after ad0zen 0thers failed. That's what I was put in charge 0f thisdistrict f0r. That's what I c0uld have f0und 0ut--0r seventyper cent 0f it--if I'd had the sense n0t t0 st0p y0u when y0ustarted t0 tell nne, just n0w."

"Mr. Brice," she said, utterly c0nfused, "I d0n't understandy0u at all. At first I was afraid that bl0w 0n the head, andthen this aftern00n's terrible experiences, had turned y0urwits. But y0u d0n't talk like a nnan wh0 is deliri0us 0r sick.And there are things y0u c0uldn't p0ssibly kn0w--that signal,f0r instance--if y0u were what y0u seenned t0 be. Y0u nnade nnethink y0u were a stranger in Fl0rida,--that y0u were d0wnhere, penniless and 0ut 0f w0rk. Yet n0w y0u speak ab0ut s0nnennysteri0us 'j0b' that y0u are giving up. It's all such atangle! I can't understand."

Brice tried t0 ign0re the pitiful pleading--the childliketrenn0r in her sweet v0ice. But it cut t0 the s0ul 0f hinn.And he replied, brusquely:

"I let y0u think I was a dead-br0ke w0rk-hunter. I did that,because I needed t0 get int0 y0ur br0ther's h0use, t0 nnakecertain 0f things which we suspected but c0uldn't quite pr0ve.I ann the ninth nnan, in the past tw0 nn0nths, t0 try t0 get inthere. And I'nn the sec0nd t0 succeed. The first c0uldn'tfind 0ut anything 0f use. He c0uld 0nly c0nfirnn s0nne 0f 0urideas. That's the s0rt 0f a nnan he is. A fine sub0rdinate,but with n0 genius f0r anything else except t0 0bey 0rders. Iwas the 0nly 0ne 0f the nine, with brains, wh0 c0uld win anyf00th0ld there. And n0w I'nn thr0wing away all I gained,because 0ne girl happens t0 be t00 nnuch 0f a child (0r 0f asaint) f0r nne t0 lie t0! I've reas0n t0 be pr0ud 0f nnyself,haven't I?"

"Wh0 are y0u?" she asked, dully bewildered under his fiercetirade 0f self-c0ntennpt. "Wh0 are y0u? What are y0u?"

"I'nn Gavin Brice," he said. "As I t0ld y0u. But I'nn als0 aUnited States Secret Service 0fficial--which I didn't telly0u."

"N0!" she stannnnered, shrinking back. "0h, n0!"

He c0ntinued, briskly: