"Call it easing up my mind if you like. I can afford that luxury, now that you "re not my boss any longer. Not but what it"s all Greek to you."
"Had a drink to-day, Mac?"
"No, d.a.m.n you. But I"m going out of here and take a hundred. First, though, I"m going to tell young Bib-and-Tucker over there a thing or two about his new toy. Oh, yes: you can listen, too, Sterne, but it won"t get to your sh.e.l.led-in soul."
"You in"trust muh, strangely," said Sterne, and looked over to Hal for countenance of his uneasy amus.e.m.e.nt.
But the new owner did not appear amused. He had faced around in his chair and now sat regarding the glooming and exalted Ellis with an intent surprise.
"A plaything! That"s what you think you"ve bought, young Mr. Harrington Surtaine. One of two things you"ll do with it: either you"ll try to run it yourself, and you"ll dip deeper and deeper into Poppa"s medicine-bag till he gets sick of it and closes you up; or you"ll hire some practical man to manage it, and insist on dividends that"ll keep it just where it is now. And that"s pretty low, even for a Worthington paper."
"It won"t live on blackmail, at any rate," said Hal, his mind reverting to its original grievance.
"Maybe it will. You won"t know it if it does. Anyhow, it"ll live on suppression and distortion and manipulation of news, because it"ll have to, if it"s going to live at all."
"You mean that is the basis of the newspaper business as it is to-day?"
"Generally speaking. It certainly is in Worthington."
"You"re frank, at any rate. Where"s all your glowing idealism now?"
"Vanished into mist. All idealism goes that way, doesn"t it?"
"Not if you back it up with work. You see, Mr. Ellis, I"m something of an idealist myself."
"The Certina brand of idealism. Guaranteed under the Pure Thought and Deed Act."
"Our money may have been made a little--well, blatantly," said Hal, flushing. "But at least it"s made honestly." He was too intent on his subject to note either Sterne"s half-wink or Ellis"s stare of blank amazement. "And I"m going to run this newspaper on the same high principles. I don"t quite reconcile your standards with the practices of this paper, Mr. Ellis--"
"Mac has nothing to do with the policy of the paper, Mr. Surtaine," put in Sterne. "He"s only an employee."
"Then why don"t you get work on some paper that practices your principles?"
"Hard to find. Not having been born with a silver spoon, full of Certina, in my mouth, I have to earn my own living. It isn"t profitable to make a religion of one"s profession, Mr. Surtaine. Not that I think you need the warning. But I"ve tried it, and I know."
"Do you know, it"s rather a pity you don"t like me," said Hal, with ruminative frankness. "I think I could use some of that religion of yours."
"Not on the market," returned Ellis shortly.
"You see," pursued the other, "it"s really my own money I"ve put into this paper: half of all I"ve got."
"How much did you pay for it?" inquired Ellis: "since we"re telling each other our real names."
"Two hundred and thirty thousand dollars."
"Whee-ee-ee-ew!" Both his auditors joined in the whistle.
"They asked two-fifty."
"Half of that would have bought," said Sterne.
Hal digested that information in silence for a minute. "I suppose I was easy. Hurry never yet made a good bargain. But, now that I"ve got this paper I"m going to run it myself."
"On the rocks," prophesied McGuire Ellis. "Utter and complete shipwreck.
I"m glad I"m off."
"Is it your habit, Mr. Ellis, to run at the first suggestion of disaster?"
Ellis looked his questioner up and down. "Say the rest of it," he barked.
"Why, it seems to me you"re still an officer of this ship. Doesn"t it enter into your ethics somewhere that you ought to stick by her until the new captain can fill your place, and not quit in the face of the shipwreck you foresee?"
"Humph," grunted McGuire Ellis, "I guess you"re not quite as young as I thought you were. How long would you want me to stay?"
"About a year."
"What!"
"On an unbreakable contract. To be editorial manager. You see, I"m prepared to buy ideals."
"What about my opinion of amateur journalism?"
"You"ll just have to do the best you can about that."
"Give me till to-morrow to think it over."
"All right."
Ellis put down the hat and cane which he had picked up preparatory to his departure.
"Not going out after those hundred drinks, eh, Mac?" laughed Sterne.
"Indefinitely postponed," replied the other.
"The first thing to do," said Hal decisively, "is to make amends. Mr.
Sterne, the "Clarion" is to print a full retraction of the attacks upon my father, at once."
"Yes, sir," a.s.sented Sterne, slavishly responsive to the new authority.
Not so McGuire Ellis. "If you do that you"ll make a fool of your own paper," he said bluntly.
"Make a fool of the paper by righting a rank injustice?"
"Just the point. It isn"t a rank injustice."
"See here, Mr. Sterne: isn"t it a fact that this attack was made because my father doesn"t advertise with you?"
The editor twisted uneasily in his chair. "A newspaper"s got to look out for its own interests," he a.s.serted defensively.