"Say that again!"
"With pleasure," returned Murgatroyd, "I say that you are the hitherto
unknown owner of the most notorious gambling-house within the State."
There was another pause in which Thorne looked at Broderick and
Broderick looked at Thorne.
"This is preposterous!" exclaimed Thorne.
Murgatroyd made no answer. Then he proceeded with assertions.
"And with the earnings of that gambling-house," he said evenly, "you
have stopped the mouths, closed the eyes and ears, and paralysed the
hands of the authorities. With the earnings of that gambling-house, you
have bought the influence of Chairman Peter Broderick, who lives upon
those earnings--grows fat upon them."
Broderick's eyes bulged; he, too, rose and started toward the
prosecutor.
"Say," he yelled, "I'll open up my anatomy to you! Pick out any ounce o'
fat and tell me Cradlebaugh's put it there! Come on--my fat is my own--I
earned it by the sweat of my brow!"