"You must nail that lie immediately!" cried Venable as soon as Luke entered the offices of the League. The old man was standing at a desk with Yeates and Nelson beside him.
"Why did he fire you, anyway?" asked Yeates. "I always thought Leighton was a rather decent kind of fellow."
"Jealousy," suggested Nelson. "He was afraid of him."
Luke sat on a table and dangled his long legs. He did not like the necessity that Leighton had put upon him.
"Of course, he didn't discharge you at all," said Venable. "We all know that. But we have called the committee for the day after to-morrow, and you must make the public see the matter as we do."
"I'm not so sure that he didn't fire me," said Luke. He chose to be blind to his hearers' astonishment. "It was a race to see whether he'd chuck me or me him, and I think it ended in a dead-heat."
"Oh, come off!" said Yeates.
Venable stroked his white hair.
"But the reason?" he commanded. "You must give the full story to the public. We stand for absolute honesty in politics, and we can't begin with any suppression of facts in public office."
"Well," said Luke, "I think I gave Leighton, in a general way, to understand I believed he was willing to use the Money Power in politics, if he could get it to use." He smiled at them. "Does sound rather vague, doesn't it?"