Page:The council of seven.djvu/82

 for the Chief was akin to idolatry, but this was a matter on which he felt bound to hold his ground. It was due to them both that he should do so. But it was far from the habit of the Colossus to take advice and the knowledge of this fact often embarrassed those who had to deal with him.

"Must we go into this matter at once?" The question was more tentative than was warranted by Mr. Gage's state of mind, but to come out into the open would be fatal.

"The sooner the better. Marshal all the facts. We have to take a strong line here."

"But the 'murder' of William Garland." Such a nudity of phrase was altogether too much for Bennet Gage. "Even if our information justifies that and even if it is the finding of the Coroner's jury—and one can't believe for a moment that it will be—is it right?—is it in the public interest to run counter to the police?'

"Is it in the public interest to cover up their incompetence? that is the question we have to ask ourselves."

Mr. Gage shook a deferential head. "Not so much their incompetence, it seems to me, as their limitations."

"A distinction without a difference, my friend."

"With all respect, I don't agree. There is reason to believe that they know more than we do. And they have come to the conclusion that they are powerless."

"A conclusion wholly puerile and discreditable."