"Isn't that the fact?" Asgill asked coldly.
"The fact!" the other burst forth. "No, I'm cursed if it is! And you know it is not! You know as well as I do——" And with that he poured forth a version of the events of the afternoon, and of those leading up to them, which included not only the Colonel's release, but the treatment to which he had been subjected and the motive for it.
When he had done, "That's a strange story," Asgill said quietly, "if it's true."
"True?" Payton rejoined, laying his hand on a glass and speaking in a towering rage. "Damn you, you know it's true!"
"I know nothing about it," Asgill replied, with the utmost coolness.
"Nothing?"
"And for a good reason. Sure, and I'm the last person they would be likely to tell it to!"
"And you were not a party to it?" Payton cried.
"Why should I be?" Asgill rejoined, calmly cutting a slice of bread. "What have I to gain by robbing the young lady of her inheritance? I'd be more likely to lose by it than gain."
"Lose by it? Why?"