"Why--why--" But for a moment his utter dumbfoundment paralyzed his speech.

"You're--you're sure of that ?" he finally got out.
"Yes." She went on and told of how her suspicion had been aroused, of her interview with Joe Ellison which had transmuted suspicion into certainty, of her theory of the motives which had actuated Jimmie Carlisle in so perverting the directions of the man who had held Jimmie as his most trusted friend.
Larry was fairly stunned by this recital of what had been done.

And he was further stunned as he realized the fullness of what now seemed to be the circumstances.
"God, think of it!" he breathed.

"Maggie trying to be a great adventuress because she was brought up that way, because she thinks her father wants her to be that--and having never a guess of the truth! And Joe Ellison believing that his daughter is a nice, simple girl, happily ignorant of the life he tried to shield her from--and having never a guess of the truth! What a situation! And if they should ever find out--" He broke off, appalled by the power and magnitude of what he vaguely saw.

Presently he said in a numbed, awed voice: "They should know the truth.