Jennie Baxter, Journalist | Page 3

tell him I will keep him but a
few moments?"
"Ah, miss, that's what they all say; they ask for a few moments an' they
shtay an hour. Not that there'd be any blame to an editor if he kept you
as long as he could. An' it's willing I'd be to take up your name, but I'm

afraid that it's little good it 'ud be after doin' ye. There's more than a
dozen men in the waitin'-room now, an' they've been there for. the last
half-hour. Not a single one I've sent up has come down again."
"But surely," said Miss Jennie, in her most coaxing tone, "there must be
some way to see even such a great man as the editor, and if there is,
you know the way."
"Indade, miss, an' I'm not so sure there is a way, unless you met him in
the strate, which is unlikely. As I've told ye, there's twelve men now
waitin' for him in the big room. Beyont that room there's another one,
an' beyont that again is Mr. Hardwick's office. Now, it's as much as my
place is worth, mum, to put ye in that room beyont the one where the
men are waitin'; but, to tell you the truth, miss," said the Irishman,
lowering his voice, as if he were divulging office secrets, "Mr.
Hardwick, who is a difficult man to deal with, sometimes comes
through the shmall room, and out into the passage whin he doesn't want
to see anyone at all, at all, and goes out into the strate, leavin'
everybody waitin' for him. Now I'll put ye into this room, and if the
editor tries to slip out, then ye can speak with him; but if he asks ye
how ye got there, for the sake of hiven don't tell him I sint ye, because
that's not my duty at all, at all."
"Indeed, I won't tell him how I got there; or, rather, I'll say I came there
by myself; so all you need to do is to show me the door, and there won't
need to be any lies told.
"True for ye, an' a very good idea. Well, miss, then will ye just come up
the stairs with me? It's the fourth door down the passage."
Miss Jennie beamed upon the susceptible Irishman a look of such
melting gratitude that the man, whom bribery had often attempted to
corrupt in vain, was her slave for ever after. They went up the stairs
together, at the head of which the porter stood while Miss Baxter went
down the long passage and stopped at the right door; Ryan nodded and
disappeared.
Miss Baxter opened the door softly and entered. She found the room

not too brilliantly lighted, containing a table and several chairs. The
door to the right hand, which doubtless led into the waiting-room,
where the dozen men were patiently sitting, was closed. The opposite
door, which led into Mr. Hardwick's office, was partly open. Miss
Baxter sat down near the third door, the one by which she had entered
from the passage, ready to intercept the flying editor, should he attempt
to escape.
In the editor's room someone was walking up and down with heavy
footfall, and growling in a deep voice that was plainly audible where
Miss Jennie sat. "You see, Alder, it's like this," said the voice. "Any
paper may have a sensation every day, if it wishes; but what I want is
accuracy, otherwise our sheet has no real influence. When an article
appears in the Bugle, I want our readers to understand that that article is
true from beginning to end. I want not only sensation, but definiteness
and not only definiteness, but absolute truth."
"Well, Mr. Hardwick," interrupted another voice--the owner of which
was either standing still or sitting in a chair, so far as Miss Baxter could
judge by the tone, while the editor uneasily paced to and fro--"what
Hazel is afraid of is that when this blows over he will lose his
situation--"
"But," interjected the editor, "no one can be sure that he gave the
information. No one knows anything about this but you and I, and we
will certainly keep our mouths shut."
"What Hazel fears is that the moment we print the account, the Board
of Public Construction will know he gave away the figures, because of
their accuracy. He says that if we permit him to make one or two
blunders, which will not matter in the least in so far as the general
account goes, it will turn suspicion from him. It will be supposed that
someone had access to the books, and in the hurry of transcribing
figures had made the blunders, which they know he would not do, for
he