"I'm sorry for Roughton," Fischer declared. "He was a perfectly straight man, and I am sure he has done his best."
"Great friend of yours?" the other asked curiously.
"We were intimately acquainted," was the brief answer.
The two men finished their cocktails in silence. On their way upstairs the Senator took his companion's arm.
"Fischer," he said, "you'll forgive me if I put a certain matter to you plainly?"
"Naturally!"
"Within the last few days," Hastings proceeded, "there have been seven explosions or fires at various factories throughout the States. It is a somewhat significant circumstance," he added, after a slight pause, "that every one of these misfortunes has occurred at a factory where munitions of some sort for the Allies have been in process of manufacture. Shrewd men have naturally come to the conclusion that there is some organisation at work."
"I should doubt it," Fischer replied. "You must remember that there is always a great risk of disasters in factories where explosives are being handled. It is a new thing to many of the manufacturers here, and it is obvious that they are not making use of all the necessary precautions."
"I see," Hastings observed, reflectively. "So that is how you would explain this epidemic of disasters, eh?"
"Certainly!"