"What struggle?" Morley retorted, vacant eyes turned toward Braceway.
"You know! The struggle between two men at the foot of the steps of Number Five."
"I didn't see a struggle," said Morley. "There wasn't any."
"You might as well tell it straight now as later. Give me the truth about that struggle. Were you in it?"
"No."
"Now, see here! We know such a struggle occurred. If you were there, as you say you were, you must have seen it. You couldn't have helped seeing it!"
Morley denied it again, and his denial stood against all of Braceway's skill. There had been no struggle, no encounter of any two persons. He clung to that without qualification.
Bristow knew how great Braceway's disappointment was. He was convinced that Braceway, in coming to Washington, had looked forward to securing a confirmation of Withers' story. Now, instead of corroboration, he got only a flat and unshaken contradiction.