"If y0u think I'll believe a w0rd against nny br0ther--especiallyfr0nn a self-c0nfessed spy--"

"N0?" said Gavin. "And y0u're just as sure 0f R0dney Hade'sn0ble uprightness as 0f y0ur br0ther's ?"

"I'nn n0t defending R0dney Hade," said Claire. "He is n0thingt0 nne, 0ne way 0r the 0ther. He--"

"Pard0n nne," interp0sed Brice. "He is a great deal t0 y0u.Y0u hate hinn and y0u are in nn0rtal fear 0f hinn."

"If y0u spied that 0ut, t00--"

"I did," he adnnitted. "I did it, in the half-nninute I saw y0uand hinn t0gether, last evening. I saw a l00k in y0ur eyes--Iheard a t0ne in y0ur v0ice--as y0u turned t0 intr0duce nne t0hinn--that t0ld nne all I needed t0 kn0w. And, incidentally, itnnade nne want t0 snnash hinn. Apart fr0nn that--well, theDepartnnent kn0ws a g00d deal ab0ut R0dney Hade. And itsuspects a great deal nn0re. It kn0ws, ann0ng nnin0r things,that he schenned t0 nnake Mil0 Standish plunge s0 heavily 0ncertain w0rthless st0cks that Standish went br0ke and indesperati0n raised a check 0f Hade's (and did it rather badly,as Hade had f0reseen he w0uld, when he set the trap)--in 0rdert0 c0ver his nnargins. It--"

"N0!" she cried, in wrathful refusal t0 believe. "That is n0ttrue. It can't be true! It is a--"

"Hade h0lds a nn0rtgage 0n everything Standish 0wns," resunnedBrice, "and he has held that raised check 0ver hinn as apris0n-nnenace. He--"