"I should doubt it," Fischer replied. "You must remember that there is always a great risk of disasters in factories where explosives are being handled. It is a new thing to many of the manufacturers here, and it is obvious that they are not making use of all the necessary precautions." "I see," Hastings observed, reflectively. "So that is how you would explain this epidemic of disasters, eh?" "Certainly!" "At the same time, Fischer, to set my mind entirely at rest," Hastings continued, "I should like your assurance that you have nothing whatever to do with any organisation, should there be such a thing, including in its object the destruction of American property." "I will do more than answer your question in the direct negative," was the firm reply. "I will assure you that no such organisation exists." "I am relieved to hear it," Hastings confessed. "This resignation of Roughton, however, seems a strange thing. Most of these fires have occurred in his State.... Ah! there is Senator Joyce waiting for us, and Pamela and Mrs. Hastings." Mr. Hastings as a host was in his element. His manners and tact, which his enemies declared were far too perfect, were both admirably displayed in the smaller ways of life. He guided the conversation into light yet opportune subjects, and he utterly ignored the fact that Senator Joyce, one of the great politicians of the day, whose support of his nomination was already more than half promised, seemed distrait and a little cold. It was Pamela who quite inadvertently steered the conversation into a dangerous channel. "What has Governor Roughton been doing, Mr. Fischer?" she asked. There was a moment's silence. Pamela's question had fallen something like a bombshell amongst the little party. It was their guest who replied. "The matter is occupying the attention of the country very largely at the moment, Miss Van Teyl," he said. "It is perhaps unfortunate that Governor Roughton seems to have allowed his sympathies to be so clearly known." "He is a German by birth, is he not?" Pamela inquired. "Most decidedly not," Fischer asserted. "I was at Harvard with him." "All the same," Pamela murmured under her breath, "I think that he was born at Stuttgart." "He is an American citizen," Senator Joyce observed, "and has reached a high position here. We of the Administration may be wrong," he continued, "but we believe, and we think that we have a right to believe, that when any man of conscience and ideals takes the oath, he is free from all previous prejudices. He is an American citizen-- nothing more and nothing less." "Of course, that is magnificent," Pamela declared, "but it isn't common sense, is it, and you haven't answered my original question yet." "I am not in a position to do so, Miss Van Teyl," Joyce replied. "The trouble probably is that Governor Roughton has been considered incompetent as so many of these disasters have taken place unhindered in his State."