is was sitting in his shirt-sleeves, his collar off and neckband
loosened, when Ebenezer Brown entered.

"Sit down, Mr. Brown. I will attend to you in five minutes. We are so
confoundedly busy that I must put this through at once."

Ebenezer Brown mumbled something inarticulate and sat down, watching
the pile of papers on the desk in front of the man he hated. After a few
minutes Denis Quirk swung round on the office stool to face him.

"Well, sir, what is it?" he asked. "An advertisement or an obituary
notice of 'The Observer?'"

Ebenezer Brown was rendered speechless with indignation for the moment.

"I didn't come here to be insulted," he growled.

"Then why did you come? Haven't you been throwing insults at me from the
columns of your rag these six weeks past? A man doesn't walk into the
lion's den to have his hand licked by the lion."

"And how have you treated me?" cried Ebenezer Brown. "First you stole my
reporter's copy, then you stole my reporter."

"Stole, sir!" Denis Quirk rang his bell, and Desmond O'Connor entered.
"Kindly take down this gentleman's words, Desmond. Now, Mr. Brown,
please repeat your statement."

"You are an unscrupulous person!" growled the old man.

"You have that down, Desmond? Continue, Mr. Brown," said Denis Quirk.

"Robber! Forger!" cried the old man, roused to fury. "You have neither
manners nor honesty."

Therewith he rose and rushed into the street, and the burst of laughter
that he heard as he went did not tend to make him better pleased or
satisfied.

"Do you intend to prosecute?" asked Desmond O'Connor.

"Prosecute! No, my lad, I only defend actions for libel. If he had used
every term of reproach in every dictionary, I would not be tempted to a
prosecution. I am highly flattered. It proves that I have succeeded in
making the old man uncomfortable, and satisfies me. Just write a
humorous sketch on the little skirmish, but don't give any names. The
town will understand who is the principal character if you manage your
article dexterously and with humour. Bring it to me to touch up when the
sketch is completed."

For two weeks longer "The Observer" struggled on; then Ebenezer Brown
sent an intermediary, in the person of a lawyer, to make terms.

"There is only one possible arrangement--"The Observer" goes out," said
Quirk. "How much does Ebenezer Brown ask?"

"His proposal is to buy 'The Mercury,'" replied the messenger.

"Hopeless! I have started 'The Mercury'