“By what authority do you send that despatch?”
“I refer you to the Department, sir.”
“Show me your orders for taking charge of this office.”
“I refer you to the Department, sir,” answered Thorne stubbornly.
“By God, sir!” continued General Randolph hotly. “I will refer to the Department. Leave your men on guard there, Sergeant. Go over to the War Office. My compliments to the Secretary of War, and ask him if he will be so good as to——”
But Arrelsford’s evil genius prompted him to interpose again. When affairs were going to his liking he should have let them alone, but fate seemed to be playing into his hand, and he determined to make the most of it and the chance.
“Another witness! Miss Varney,” he cried triumphantly, as he bowed toward the window in which Edith had at that moment appeared. “She was here with me, she saw it all. Ask her.”
General Randolph turned toward the window and in his turn bowed to the girl.
“Miss Varney,” he asked courteously, “do you know anything about this?”
“About what, sir?” answered Edith in a low voice.