"Is Mr. Shearson the society editor?" asked Esme.
"No. He"s the advertising manager."
"Forgive my stupidity, but what has the advertising manager to do with social news?"
"A big heap lot," explained Wayne. "It"s the most important feature of the paper to him. Wolf Tone Maher is general manager of the Bee Hive Department Store. We get all their advertising, and when Mrs. Maher wants to see her name along with the "swells," as she would say, Mr.
Shearson is glad to oblige. B. Kirschofer is senior partner in the firm of Kirschofer & Kraus, of the Bargain Emporium. Miss Sproule is the daughter of Alexander Sproule, proprietor of the Agony Parlors, three floors up."
"Agony Parlors?" queried the visitor.
"Painless dentistry," explained Wayne. "Mr. Shearson handles all that matter and sends it down to us."
"Marked "Must," I suppose," remarked Miss Elliot, not without malice.
"So the mystic "Must" is not exclusively a chief-editorial prerogative?"
The editor-in-chief looked annoyed, thereby satisfying his visitor"s momentary ambition. "Hereafter, Mr. Wayne, all copy indorsed "Must" is to be referred to me," he directed.
"That kills the "Must" thing," commented the city editor cheerfully.
"What about "Must not"?"
"Another complication," laughed Esme. "I fear I"m peering into the dark and secret places of journalism."
"For example, a story came in last night that was a hummer," said Wayne; "about E.M. Pierce"s daughter running down an apple-cart in her sixty-horse-power car, and scattering dago, fruit, and all to the four winds of Heaven. Robbins saw it, and he"s the best reporter we have for really funny stuff."
"Kathleen drives that car like a demon out on a spree," said Esme. "But of course you wouldn"t print anything unpleasant about it."
"Why not?" asked Wayne.
"Well, she belongs to our crowd,--Mr. Surtaine"s friends, I mean,--and it was accidental, I suppose, and so long as the man wasn"t hurt--"
"Only a sprained shoulder."
"--and I"m sure Agnes would be more than willing to pay for the damage."
"Oh, yes. She asked the worth of his stock and then doubled it, gave him the money, and drove off with her mud guards coquettishly festooned with grapes. That"s what made it such a good story."
"But, Mr. Wayne"--Esme"s eyes were turned up to his pleadingly: "those things are funny to tell. But they"re so vulgar, in the paper. Think, if it were your sister."
"If my sister went tearing through crowded streets at forty miles an hour, I"d have her examined for homicidal mania. That Pierce girl will kill some one yet. Even then, I suppose we won"t print a word of it."
"What would stop us?" asked Hal.
"The fear of Elias M. Pierce. His "Must not" is what kills this story."
"Let me see it."
"Oh, it isn"t visible. But every editor in town knows too much to offend the President of the Consolidated Employers" Organization, let alone his practical control of the Dry Goods Union."
"You were at the staff breakfast yesterday, I believe, Mr. Wayne."
"What? Yes; of course I was."
"And you heard what I said?"
"Yes. But you can"t do that sort of thing all at once," replied the city editor uneasily.
"We certainly never shall do it without making a beginning. Please hold the Pierce story until you hear from me."
"Tell me all about the breakfast," commanded Esme, as the door closed upon Wayne.
Briefly Hal reported the exchange of ideas between himself and his staff, skeletonizing his own speech.
"Splendid!" she cried. "And isn"t it exciting! I love a good fight.
What fun you"ll have. Oh, the luxury of saying exactly what you think!
Even I can"t do that."
"What limits are there to the boundless privileges of royalty?" asked Hal, smiling.
"Conventions. For instance, I"d love to tell you just how fine I think all this is that you"re doing, and just how much I like and admire you.
We"ve come to be real friends, haven"t we? And, you see, I can be of some actual help. The breakfast was my suggestion, wasn"t it? So you owe me something for that. Are you properly grateful?"
"Try me."
"Then, august and terrible sovereign, spare the life of my little friend Kathie."
Hal drew back a bit. "I"m afraid you don"t realize the situation."
The Great American Pumess shot forth a little paw--such a soft, shapely, hesitant, dainty, appealing little paw--and laid it on Hal"s hand.
"Please," she said.
"But, Esme,"--he began. It was the first time he had used that intimacy with her. Her eyes dropped.
"We"re partners, aren"t we?" she said.
"Of course."
"Then you won"t let them print it!"
"If Miss Pierce goes rampaging around the streets--"
"Please. For me,--partner."
"One would have to be more than human, to say no to you," he returned, laughing a little unsteadily. "You"re corrupting my upright professional sense of duty."
"It can"t be a duty to hold a friend up to ridicule, just for a little accident."
"I"m not so sure," said Hal, again. "However, for the sake of our partnership, and if you"ll promise to come again soon to tell us how to run the paper--"