ldn'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tired of waiting and had withdrawn.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 tol