"Yes, it is true," said Flomerfelt, gliding also into the scene. "You owe it all to Peter V."
"Now you've got to do it!" exclaimed Leslie, staggering to her feet.
Beekman eyed them all with growing determination. He was beginning to see things clearly now.
"I even gave you my daughter, confound you!" went on Wilkinson.
Beekman turned back to his desk and stood there, calm now, desperately calm.
"So you made me Governor just to get this pardon?"
Flomerfelt started to speak, but Wilkinson was before him.
"Yes," snarled Wilkinson, "just to get this pardon. Do you think for an instant that you were put here for any other reason? Or that you had any qualifications for the office?"
Leslie laughed a discordant laugh, and Flomerfelt, seeing at once that the girl was in complete sympathy with her father, stepped back behind them.
"There are many good reasons, Mr. Wilkinson," said the Governor, grimly, "Why you should not be pardoned. Needless to say you know what they are. But," he added fiercely, for he knew that he had been tricked, "if there were no other reason, the fact that you had put me here to secure your pardon would make it impossible for me to act." He stopped and stared at Leslie, his eyes unconsciously seeking hers for sympathy, but something there shocked him beyond measure, and before he was aware of what he was saying, he blurted out: