"I"ll go to the hospital," she said, "and I"ll "phone you as soon as there is any news."
"Better come home with me, Hal," said his father gently.
The younger man turned with an involuntary motion toward the desk, still wet with his friend"s blood.
"I"ll stay on the job," he said.
Understanding, the father nodded his sympathy. "Yes; I guess that would have been Mac"s way," said he.
Work pressing upon the editor from all sides came as a boon. The paper had to be made over for the catastrophe which, momentarily, overshadowed the typhus epidemic in importance. In hasty consultation, it was decided that the "special" on the ownership of the infected tenements should be set aside for a day, to make s.p.a.ce. Hal had to make his own statement, not alone for the "Clarion," but for the other newspapers, whose representatives came seeking news and also--what both surprised and touched him--bearing messages of sympathy and congratulation, and offers of any help which they could extend from men to pressroom accommodations. Not until nearly two o"clock in the morning did Hal find time to draw breath over an early proof, which stated the casualties as seven killed outright, including Veltman who was literally torn to pieces, and twenty-two seriously wounded.
From his reading Hal was called to the "phone. Esme"s voice came to him with a note of hope and happiness.
"Oh, Hal, they say there"s a chance! Even a good chance! They"ve operated, and it isn"t as bad as it looked at first. I"m so glad for you."
"Thank you," said Hal huskily. "And--bless you! You"ve been an angel to-night."
There was a pause: then, "You"ll come to see me--when you can?"
"To-morrow," said he. "No--to-day. I forgot."
They both laughed uncertainly, and bade each other good-night.
Hal stayed through until the last proof. In the hallway a heavy figure lifted itself from a chair in a corner as he came out.
"Dad!" exclaimed Hal.
"I thought I"d wait," said the charlatan wistfully.
No other word was necessary. "I"ll be glad to be home again," said Hal.
"You can lend me some pajamas?"
"They"re laid out on your bed. Every night."
The two men pa.s.sed down the stairs, arm in arm. At the door they paused.
Through the building ran a low tremor, waxing to a steady thrill. The presses were throwing out to the world once again their irrevocable message of fact and fate.
CHAPTER x.x.xV
TEMPERED METAL
Monday"s newspapers startled Hal Surtaine. Despite the sympathetic att.i.tude expressed after the riot by the other newspaper men, he had not counted upon the unanimous vigor with which the local press took up the cudgels for the "Clarion." That potent and profound guild-fellowship of newspaperdom, which, when once aroused, overrides all individual rivalry and jealousy, had never before come into the young editor"s experience.
To his fellow editors the issue was quite clear. Here was an attack, not upon one newspaper alone, but upon the principle of journalistic independence. Little as the "Banner," the "Press," the "Telegram," and their like had practiced independence of thought or writing, they could both admire and uphold it in another. Their support was as genuine as it was generous. The police department, and, indeed, the whole city administration of Worthington, came in for scathing and universal denunciation, in that they had failed to protect the "Clarion" against the mob"s advance.
The evening papers got out special bulletins on McGuire Ellis. None too hopeful they were, for the fighting journalist, after a brief rally, had sunk into a condition where life was the merest flicker. Always a picturesque and well-liked personality, Ellis now became a species of popular hero. Sympathy centralized on him, and through him attached temporarily to the "Clarion" itself, which he now typified in the public imagination. His condition, indeed, was just so much sentimental capital to the paper, as the Honorable E.M. Pierce savagely put it to William Douglas. Nevertheless, the two called at the hospital to make polite inquiries, as did scores of their fellow leading citizens. Ellis, stricken down, was serving his employer well.
Not that Hal knew this, nor, had he known it, would have cared. Sick at heart, he waited about the hospital reception room for such meager hopes as the surgeons could give him, until an urgent summons compelled him to go to the office. Wayne had telephoned for him half a dozen times, finally leaving a message that he must see him on a point in the tenement-ownership story, to be run on the morrow.
Wayne, at the moment of Hal"s arrival, was outside the rail talking to a visitor. On the copy-book beside his desk was stuck an ill.u.s.tration proof, inverted. Idly Hal turned it, and stood facing his final and worst ordeal of principle. The half-tone picture, lovely, suave, alluring, smiled up into his eyes from above its caption:--
"_Miss Esme Elliot, Society Belle and Owner of No. 9 Sadler"s Shacks, Known as the Pest-Egg."_
"You"ve seen it," said Wayne"s voice at his elbow.
"Yes."
"Well; it was that I wanted to ask you about."
"Ask it," said Hal, dry-lipped.
"I knew you were a--a friend of Miss Elliot"s. We can kill it out yet.
It--it isn"t absolutely necessary to the story," he added, pityingly.
He turned and looked away from a face that had grown swiftly old under his eyes. In Hal"s heart there was a choking rush of memories: the conquering loveliness of Esme; her sweet and loyal womanliness and comradeship of the night before; the half-promise in her tones as she had bid him come to her; the warm pressure of her arms fending him from the sight of his friend"s blood; and, far back, her voice saying so confidently, "I"d trust you," in answer to her own supposit.i.tious test as to what he would do if a news issue came up, involving her happiness.
Blotting these out came another picture, a swathed head, quiet upon a pillow. In that moment Hal knew that he was forever done with suppressions and evasions. Nevertheless, he intended to be as fair to Esme as he would have been to any other person under attack.
"You"re sure of the facts?" he asked Wayne.
"Certain."
"How long has she owned it?"
"Oh, years. It"s one of those complicated trusteeships."
Hope sprang up in Hal"s soul. "Perhaps she doesn"t know about it."
"Isn"t she morally bound to know? We"ve a.s.sumed moral responsibility in the other trusteeships. Of course, if you want to make a difference--"
Wayne, again wholly the journalist, jealous for the standards of his craft, awaited his chief"s decision.
"No. Have you sent a man to see her?"
"Yes. She"s away."
"Away? Impossible!"
"That"s what they said at the house. The reporter got the notion that there was something queer about her going. Scared out, perhaps."
Hal thought of the proud, frank eyes, and dismissed that hypothesis.
Whatever Esme"s responsibility, he did not believe that she would shirk the onus of it.
"Dr. Elliot?" he enquired.
"Refused all information and told the reporter to go to the devil."