“You intimated that he was a stoker,” Ruth continued, with quite as much confidence as before.
Indeed, the more doubt seemed cast upon her statement the more confident she became. She could not understand why this man denied knowledge of the incident, unless——
She glanced at Dowd. He was frowning and had reddened. But he was not looking at her. He was looking at Dykman.
“Well, sir?” he snapped suddenly.
“No, sir. I do not remember the occurrence,” the sub-officer said respectfully but with a finality there could be no mistaking.
“That will do, then,” said Mr. Dowd, and waved his hand in dismissal.
Dykman bowed again and marched away. Ruth watched the face of the first officer closely. Had he shown the least suspicion of her she would have said no more. But, instead, he looked at her frankly now that the sub-officer had gone, and demanded angrily:
“Now, what do you suppose that means? Are you positive you have identified Dykman?”
“He was the man who spoke to the stoker—yes.”
“Then why the—ahem! Well! Why should he deny it?”