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 both of them, and then where will their friends be?”

“There is still my brother Oscar,” returned Linda.

“And do you think your brother Oscar can save them? He does not even know what has happened, and if he did, what help could he give?” Jake laughed harshly. “He is having all that he can do to save himself, these days, has Oscar  Dansk.”

Hugh could feel Linda’s hand tighten on his arm as though, in spite of herself, she winced  under the last words. He stepped in front of her to face their common enemy, but she spoke  before he could.

“The Edmonds are not friendless,” she declared. “No matter what all the world may say there will still be some of us who know they are  honest and who will find and save them in the  end.”

She moved to the door, and Jake, seeing that he could no longer block her way, suddenly