All could be gained at one
blow. They say that a check-book knows no politics, but Bennett has
learned some, I venture to say, and to save his reputation he will
pay back what he has tried to graft."
Travis could scarcely believe it yet. "How did you get your first
hint?" he gasped.
Kennedy was digging into the wall with a bill file at the place
where he had buried the little vulcanised disc. I had already
guessed that it was a dictograph, though I could not tell how it
was used or who used it. There it was, set squarely in the plaster.
There also were the wires running under the carpet. As he lifted
the rug under Miss Ashton's desk there also lay the huge circles
of wire. That was all.
At this moment Miss Ashton stepped forward. "Last Friday," she
said in a low tone, "I wore a belt which concealed a coil of wire
about my waist. From it a wire ran under my coat, connecting with
a small dry battery in a pocket. Over my head I had an arrangement
such as the telephone girls wear with a receiver at one ear
connected with the battery. No one saw it, for I wore a large hat
which completely hid it. If any one had known, and there were
plenty of eyes watching, the whole thing would have fallen through.
I could walk around; no one could suspect anything; but when I stood
or sat at my desk I could hear everything that was said in Mr.
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