[Pg 59] A Garrison-avenue car crowded with Electric Park visitors rumbled noisily by and drowned some of the words of his sentence. "I want it sifted thoroughly now." Little Mrs. Fremont half rose from her chair, as she said weakly to her husband: "I don't feel well. I think I'd better be going." "Pardon me, Mrs. Fremont," said Dr. Harford, "I beg of you that you will remain." "Stick it out, Emily," remarked Mr. Fremont. "Harford has got us here to learn the truth." Nothing ever seemed to worry Fremont. "Now, Mrs. Caswell," continued Dr. Harford, still addressing that lady directly and drawing nearer to her by a foot or two, "I will begin with you. Last week when you were in my office I asked you to tell me just what stories were being circulated about me in West Arlington, and after some demur you told me. Do you mind repeating them?" Mrs. Caswell was scornful. "I have nothing to say," she exclaimed. "I think it better to hush the whole affair." "Then, my dear madam, I am forced to repeat to my guests what you told me. You said, you will recollect, that one resident had accused me of having cheated at cards, and that another party[Pg 60] had called me a 'tooth butcher,' and had declared I could not fix the teeth of her little dog. Was not that it?" [Pg 60] It was Mrs. Caswell's turn to rise. "This is a contemptible outrage," she cried. "I demand that it stop." "No more contemptible than the injury you have done us," spiritedly said Mrs. Harford, speaking for the first time. "Have I not quoted you right?" asked Dr. Harford of Mrs. Caswell. "I shall say nothing," returned she. "You have cooked up a vile plot to trap us here." "Then, my dear Mrs. Caswell, if you will affirm nothing, I have a way to make you speak." He stepped inside his hallway for an instant, while the others, all except his wife, watched him with great curiosity and some alarm. When he reappeared he was carrying a table on which was some large, heavy article hidden under a tablecloth. "There's a little surprise coming to you and the rest," he resumed. "You did not know, madame, that when I was
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