Страница 381 из 416

All eyes were fixed on Nat, but he did not move. He was very pale

now, but apparently self-possessed. Suddenly, with a hand that

appeared firm, he removed the cigar from his mouth and cast it on

the floor.

"That," he said with deadly coolness, "is a blasted fine plot

that you have all worked out together. But every word of it is a

lie, for the whole thing is without a single foundation in fact.

Prove it!"

"I'll give you a last chance, Burns," said Elsa in a level voice

that contained all the concentrated hatred that Code had detected

in her before. "Dismiss these charges against Code."

"Never!" The word was catapulted from him as though by a muscular

convulsion. "He murdered my father, and he shall pay for it!"

Without a word Elsa rose from her chair and walked back into the

adjoining room. A moment later she reappeared, leading a

beautiful girl who was perhaps twenty years old.

The effect was electric. The people in the little group seemed

frozen into the attitudes they had last assumed.