Gilder nodded, his face miserable.
“Yes,” he has explained it to me, he said in a lifeless voice. “It's a terrible position for my boy. But you'll release him at once, won't you?” Though he strove to put confidence into his words, his painful doubt was manifest.
“I can't,” Burke replied, reluctantly, but bluntly. “You ought not to expect it, Mr. Gilder.”
“But,” came the protest, delivered with much more spirit, “you know very well that he didn't do it!”
Burke shook his head emphatically in denial of the allegation.
“I don't know anything about it—yet,” he contradicted.
The face of the magnate went white with fear.
“Inspector,” he cried brokenly, “you—don't mean—”
Burke answered with entire candor.
“I mean, Mr. Gilder, that you've got to make him talk. That's what I want you to do, for all our sakes. Will you?”