fathers' and mothers' wishes and the
troublous state of the times. Florence did not keep them waiting long,
however.

She might have been easier to bear had her manner of arrival been less
assured. She romped up the stairs, came skipping across the old floor,
swinging her hat by a ribbon, flung open the gate in the sacred railing,
and, flouncing into the principal chair, immodestly placed her feet on
the table in front of that chair. Additionally, such was her lively
humour, she affected to light and smoke the stub of a lead pencil.
"Well, men," she said heartily, "I don't want to see any loafin' around
here, men. I expect I'll have a pretty good newspaper this week; yes,
sir, a pretty good newspaper, and I guess you men got to jump around a
good deal to do everything I think of, or else maybe I guess I'll have
to turn you off. I don't want to haf to do that, men."

The blackmailed partners made no reply, on account of an inability that
was perfect for the moment. They stared at her helplessly, though not
kindly; for in their expressions the conflict between desire and policy
was almost staringly vivid. And such was their preoccupation, each with
the bitterness of his own case, that neither wondered at the other's
strange complaisance.

Florence made it clear to them that henceforth she was the editor of
_The North End Daily Oriole_. (She said she had decided not to change
the name.) She informed them that they were to be her printers; she did
not care to get all inky and nasty herself, she said. She would,
however, do all the writing for her newspaper, and had with her a new
poem. Also, she would furnish all the news and it would be printed just
as she wrote it, and printed _nicely_, too, or else----She left the
sentence unfinished.

Thus did this cool hand take possession of an established industry, and
in much the same fashion did she continue to manage it. There were
unsuppressible protests; there was covert anguish; there was even a
strike--but it was a short one. When the printers remained away from
their late Newspaper Building, on Wednesday afternoon, Florence had an
interview with Herbert after dinner at his own door. He explained coldly
that Henry and he had grown tired of the printing-press and had decided
to put in all their spare time building a theatre in Henry's attic; but
Florence gave him to understand that the theatre could not be; she
preferred the _Oriole_.

Henry and Herbert had both stopped