Drummond had been trying to interrupt, but she had ignored him, and was speaking rapidly so that he could get no chance.
"You have cheated the Government of hundreds of thousands dollars," she hurried on facing Beverley and Dumont. "It would make a splendid newspaper story."
Dumont moved uneasily. Drummond was now staring. It was a new phase of the matter to him. He had not counted on handling a woman like Constance, who knew how to take advantage of every weak spot in the armor.
"We are wasting time," he interrupted brusquely. "Get back to the original subject. There is a fifty thousand-dollar shortage on these books."
The attempt clumsily to shift the case away again from Constance to Dodge was apparent.
"Mrs. Dunlap's past troubles," Dodge asserted vigorously, "have nothing to do with the case. It was cowardly to drag that in. But the other matter of which she speaks has much to do with it."
"One moment, Murray," cried Constance. "Let me finish what I began. This is my fight, too, now."
She was talking with blazing eyes and in quick, cutting tone.
"For three years he did your dirty work," she flashed. "He did the bribing—and you saved half a million dollars."
"He has stolen fifty thousand," put in Beverley, white with anger.