Am I right in assuming
that he deceived us that night, that he himself never signed the paper?"
"His signature," Norris Vine answered, "certainly does not appear."
Weiss nodded.
"Just as I thought," he remarked. "There was every indication a few
weeks ago of what has actually happened, namely a split between us and
Phineas Duge. This document was the weapon with which he had hoped to
obtain the master-hand over us. Now, instead of finding it in his hands,
we find it in yours. What are you going to do about it?"
"I am going to use it," Vine answered. "I am going to use it to strike a
blow against the abominable system of robbery and corruption which is
ruining the finest of all God's countries."
"Very well," Weiss said, "I am not going to give away our defence, of
course. We may treat the document as a forgery, concocted by you or by
Phineas Duge, either of whom would have sufficient motives. We may
insist upon it that it was an after-dinner joke. We may contest the
meaning of the text, and swear that we intended to use none but
legitimate methods in this fight. Or, to put the whole matter before
you, we may use such powers as we possess to see that you are put out of
harm's way before you have an opportunity to make use of that paper.
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