"I can't believe it. I won't believe it," she managed to say.
"Tell me, what happened?" urged Kennedy soothingly.
"Oh, Mr. Kennedy, why did you ask me to do this?" she reproached.
"I would almost rather not have known it at all."
"Believe me, Miss Ashton," said Kennedy, "you ought to know. It is
on you that I depend most. We saw Hanford go up. What occurred?"
She was still pale, and replied nervously, "Mr. Bennett came in
about quarter to ten. He stopped to talk to me and looked about
the room curiously. Do you know, I felt very uncomfortable for a
time. Then he locked the door leading from the press bureau to
his office, and left word that he was not to be disturbed. A few
minutes later a man called."
"Yes, yes," prompted Kennedy. "Hanford, no doubt."
She was racing on breathlessly, scarcely giving one a chance to
inquire how she had learned so much.
"Why," she cried with a sort of defiant ring in her tone, "Mr.
Travis is going to buy those pictures after all. And the worst of
it is that I met him in the hall coming in as I was coming down here,
and he tried to act toward me in the same old way and that after all
I know now about him. They have fixed it all up, Mr. Bennett acting
for Mr.
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