The hand holding the receiver shook momentarily.
"Hello! I say, Heman, do you understand?
This is Whittaker talkin'." "I--er--understand," said the congressman, slowly.

"Well, sir ?" "I'm here in Washin'ton." "I have been informed that you were in the city.

Well, sir ?" "Oh! knew I was here, did you?
Is that so?
Who told you?
Tad wrote, I suppose, hey ?" The congressman did not reply immediately.

This man, whom he disliked more than anyone else in the world, had an irritating faculty of putting his finger on the truth.

And the flippancy in the tone was maddening.
Mr.Atkins was not used to flippancy.
"I believe I am not called upon to disclose my source of information," he said with chilling dignity.