we are not here to discuss ethical
questions."

"Mr. Willard, I am not here to be trifled with or side-tracked. Will
you tell me what investigations you have made to ascertain if this man
is innocent or not?"

The District Attorney leaned back wearily in his chair and gazed at the
earnest face confronting him. Then he lazily reached for a cigarette.

"I am trying to keep my temper and be polite," he replied, "but you
surely do not expect me to detail my case to my adversary?"

"Your case? Is that how you term the solemn duty you are charged with?
Does the District Attorney condescend to tricks--does he hope to make
convictions by surprise?"

Willard struck a match angrily, but he applied it to the cigarette in
his mouth before he answered:

"Red Farrell must pay you a good fee, Mr. Gordon, to make this worth
your while."

For a moment Gordon was the cooler man of the two.

"Is it not the duty of the District Attorney to ascertain the truth?" he
asked as though the other had not spoken. "Are you, a public officer,
interested in withholding any part of the truth? Have you anything to
conceal?"

"Mr. Gordon, I do not propose to listen to these insinuations----"

"Let us cease bantering then, Mr. Willard. I am ready to talk plainly.
Must I?"

"You must indeed, unless you wish me to interpret for myself."

He flicked the ashes from his cigarette and glanced with a bored
expression toward the clock.

But Gordon did not speak until Willard's eyes met his again.

"Very well then. I will see that you understand. The police have been
hunting a man called Red Farrell, but they have not been successful. The
Chief has blamed the Captains--the Captains the detectives, and the
papers have ridiculed them all. The police of other cities too have
twitted them about it. Suddenly this young man is arrested under
suspicious circumstances. No one seems particularly interested in him or
knows much about him. Why shouldn't he be Red Farrell? He is Red
Farrell. Do you understand me?"

"I hear you making a very nasty and uncalled-for charge against the
police of this City and----"

"One that you well know has both foundation and precedent. You know the
men who compose the force. So do I. They have the same pride and
ambition and morals that other men have. No more and no less. They
discover Red Farrell and remove a reproach. Suppose Winter isn't
Farrell--well, he's probably guilty anyhow. _They want to win cases
too!_"