“Yes, sir,” replied the dope fiend defiantly.
“To-day you had to get them elsewhere.”
No answer.
“Never mind,” persisted Kennedy, still calm, “I know. Why, Armstrong, you even robbed that girl of twenty-five tablets.”
“I did not,” shot out the answer.
“There were twenty-five short,” accused Kennedy.
The two faced each other. Craig repeated his remark.
“Yes,” replied Armstrong, “I held out the tablets, but it was not for myself, I can get all I want. I did it because I didn’t want her to get above seventy-five a day. I have tried every way to break her of the habit that has got me—and failed. But seventy-five—is the limit!”
“A pretty story!” exclaimed O’Connor.
Craig laid his hand on his arm to check him, as he examined a record registered on the cylinder of the machine.