?"

"Yes."

"You are certain of what you say?"

"Yes."

"Then you have evidence?"

"I am sorry--but--but I have."

The editor was leaning forward, his nostrils dilated, his eyes
gleaming sharply behind their thick glasses.

"Who's mixed up in it? Who's the man?"

The minister's hands were tightly interlocked. For an instant he
seemed unable to speak.

"Who's the man?" repeated Bruce.

The minister swallowed.

"Doctor West," he said.

Bruce sprang up.

"Doctor West?" he cried. "The superintendent of the water-works?"

"Yes."

If the editor's concern for the city's welfare was merely a political
and business pose, if he was merely an actor, at least he acted his
part well. "My God!" he breathed, and stood with eyes fixed upon the
young minister. Then suddenly he sat down again, his thick brows drew
together, and his heavy jaws set.

"Let's have the whole story," he snapped out. "From the very
beginning."

"I cannot tell you how distressed I am by what I have just been forced
to do," began the young clergyman. "I have always esteemed Doctor
West most highly, and my wife and his daughter have been the closest
friends since girlhood. To make my part in this affair clear, I must
recall to you that of late the chief attention of the Voters' Union
has naturally been devoted to the water-works. I never imagined that
anything was wrong. But, speaking frankly, after the event, I must say
that Doctor West's position was such as made it a simple matter for
him to defraud the city should he so desire."

"You mean because the council invested him with so much authority?"
demanded Bruce.

"Yes. As I have said, I regarded Doctor West above all suspicion. But
a short time ago some matters--I need not detail them--aroused in me
the fear that Doctor West was using his office for--for----"

"For graft?" supplied Bruce.

The minister inclined his head.

"Later, only a few weeks ago, a more definite fear came to me," he
continued in his low, pained voice. "It happens that I have known Mr.
Marcy here for years; we were friends in college, though we had lost
track of one another till his business brought him here. A few small
circumstances--my suspicion was already on the alert--made me guess
that Mr. Marcy was about to give Doctor West a bribe for having
awarded the filter contract to his company. I got Mr. Marcy
alone--taxed him with his intention--worked upon his conscience----"

"Mr. Marcy has stated," the