Miss Breen smiled. “His innocence, gentlemen. Why, do you think, being guilty of this crime, he would have remained in camp? It was because he was innocent that he remained.”
“Do you mean to say, Miss Breen,” the president asked, “that you believe Mr. Nash was ignorant of the offense for which——”
“I do!”
“But you have already testified——“ began Sigsbee.
“I testified to the facts exactly as they were, exactly as I found them; exactly, gentlemen, as Mr. Nash admits they were. He does not deny that his steel was different from the specifications. What he does deny is that he was given those specifications there on the table.”
“If he was given other specifications, which he claims to have followed,” Sigsbee declared, “why does he not show them? What we want at this inquiry is proofs, not words.”
Miss Breen allowed her eyes to rest upon the insolent, flushed face of the speaker. “‘Why doesn’t he show the proofs?’ you ask,” she replied calmly. “Because you took particular pains to put them out of his reach, Mr. Sigsbee.”
“Look here!” Sigsbee exclaimed, forgetting, or indifferent to the fact, that he was addressing a woman. “I won’t stand for any such insinuations!”
“You’ll stand for some things you don’t expect,” the girl answered swiftly, not in the least ruffled by the man’s declaration. “You laid your plans very carefully, Mr. Sigsbee; you imagined them to be perfect. Most criminals do. It is the unexpected that steps in and clogs the smoothest running gear.”
“I—I demand——“ spluttered the politician.