bold stroke.

"Let's not beat about the bush, Poundstone," he said with the air of
a father patiently striving to induce his child to recant a lie, tell
the truth, and save himself from the parental wrath. "You've been
doing business with Ogilvy; I know it for a fact, and you might as
well admit it."

Poundstone looked up, red and embarrassed. "If I had known--" he
began.

"Certainly, certainly! I realize you acted in perfect good faith.
You're like the majority of people in Sequoia. You're all so crazy
for rail-connection with the outside world that you jump at the first
plan that seems to promise you one. Now, I'm as eager as the others,
but if we are going to have a railroad, I, for one, desire the right
kind of railroad; and the N.C.O. isn't the right kind--that is, not
for the interests I represent. Have you promised Ogilvy a franchise?"

There was no dodging that question. A denial, under the present
circumstances, would be tantamount to an admission; Poundstone could
not guess just how much the Colonel really knew, and it would not do
to lie to him, since eventually the lie must be discovered. Caught
between the horns of a dilemma, Poundstone only knew that Ogilvy
could never be to him such a powerful enemy as Colonel Seth
Pennington; so, after the fashion of his kind, he chose the lesser of
two evils. He resolved to "come clean."

"The city council has already granted the N.C.O. a temporary
franchise," he confessed.