Jennie Baxter, Journalist | Page 4

has a reputation for accuracy."
"Quite so," said the editor; "and it is just that reputation--for accuracy
that I want to gain for the Daily Bugle. Don't you think the truth of it is

that the man wants more money?"
"Who? Hazel?"
"Certainly. Does he imagine that he could get more than fifty pounds
elsewhere?"
"Oh, no; I'm sure the money doesn't come into the matter at all. Of
course he wants the fifty pounds, but he doesn't want to lose his
situation on the Board of Public Construction in the getting of it."
"Where do you meet this man, at his own house, or in his office at the
Board?"
"Oh, in his own house, of course."
"You haven't seen the books, then?"
"No; but he has the accounts all made out, tabulated beautifully, and
has written a very clear, statement of the whole transaction. You
understand, of course, that there has been no defalcation, no
embezzlement, or anything of that sort. The accounts as a whole
balance perfectly, and there isn't a penny of the public funds wrongly
appropriated. All the Board has done is to juggle with figures so that
each department seems to have come out all right, whereas the truth is
that some departments have been carried on at a great profit, while with
others there has been a loss. The object obviously has been to deceive
the public and make it think that all the departments are economically
conducted."
"I am sorry money hasn't been stolen," said the editor generously, "then
we would have had them on the hip; but, even as it is, the Bugle will
make a great sensation. What I fear is that the opposition press will
seize on those very inaccuracies, and thus try to throw doubt on the
whole affair. Don't you think that you can persuade this person to let us
have the information intact, without the inclusion of those blunders he
seems to insist on? I wouldn't mind paying him a little more money, if
that is what he is after."

"I don't think that is his object. The truth is, the man is frightened, and
grows more and more so as the day for publication approaches. He is so
anxious about his position that he insisted he was not to be paid by
cheque, but that I should collect the money and hand it over to him in
sovereigns."
"Well, I'll tell you what to do, Alder. We mustn't seem too eager. Let
the matter rest where it is until Monday. I suppose he expects you to
call upon him again to-day?"
"Yes; I told him I should be there at seven."
"Don't go, and don't write any explanation. Let him transfer a little of
his anxiety to the fear of losing his fifty pounds. I want, if possible, to
publish this information with absolute accuracy."
"Is there any danger, Mr. Hardwick, that some of the other papers may
get on the track of this?"
"No, I don't think so; not for three days, anyway. If we appear too eager,
this man Hazel may refuse us altogether."
"Very good, sir."
Miss Baxter heard the editor stop in his walk, and she heard the rustling
of paper, as if the subordinate were gathering up some documents on
which he had been consulting his chief. She was panic-stricken to think
that either of the men might come out and find her in the position of an
eavesdropper, so with great quietness she opened the door and slipped
out into the hall, going from there to the entrance of the ordinary
waiting-room, in which she found, not the twelve men that the porter
had expatiated upon, but five. Evidently the other seven had existed
only in the porter's imagination, or had become tired of waiting and had
withdrawn. The five looked up at her as she entered and sat down on a
chair near the door. A moment later the door communicating with the
room she had quitted opened, and a clerk came in. He held two or three
slips of paper in his hand, and calling out a name, one of the men rose.

"Mr. Hardwick says," spoke up the clerk, "that this matter is in Mr.
Alder's department; would you mind seeing him? Room number five."
So that man was thus got rid of. The clerk mentioned another name,
and again a man rose.
"Mr. Hardwick," the clerk said, "has the matter under consideration.
Call again to-morrow at this hour, then he will give you his decision."
That got rid of number two. The third man was asked to leave his name
and address; the editor would write to him. Number four was told that
if he would set down his proposition in writing, and send it in to Mr.