ble in a direct way for the miraculous
change that took place in Diamond Row itself.

The morning that Phil went away she was too much occupied to care for
such trivial matters as the daily papers. She did not even glance at
the Riverville _Herald_ to see if it mentioned the fact that she had
taken Mrs. Blythe's place on the programme. It was not until late that
afternoon that she found there was quite a glowing tribute to her
ability as a speaker. Sandford Berry had written it. He had also done
more. In a way they have in newspaper offices he had taken the paper
that Mary loaned him, traced the article denouncing Burke Stoner to its
source, and found that the man who had written it was now a prominent
lawyer in Riverville. He had been employed on the editorial staff of the
_Herald_ for a short time ten years before. Armed with permission to use
his name if necessary, in verifying the article, Sandford Berry had
electrified the town the morning after Mary's talk, by printing her
description of Diamond Row, and her burning appeal to the people of
Riverville to rise up and wipe out the disgrace in their midst. She had
not mentioned Burke Stoner's name, nor was her name mentioned in
connection with this article. It was for political reasons solely that
the _Herald_ made capital of it, stringing sensational headlines across
the front page in startling black letters: "One of to-morrow's
candidates responsible for death of one tenant and maybe two. Shameful
condition of Tenth and Myrtle Street tenements, from which millionaire
owner collects many thousands a year rental."

There was a picture of Burke Stoner, surrounded by a circle of
condemning snapshots of the basement room which had filled Mary with
such horror on her first visit, the stairway labelled "Death-trap of ten
years' standing," and a portrait of little Terence Reilly, reproduced
from the first paper.

Next morning Sandford Berry called her over the telephone to say
gleefully, "Well, it did the work! Coming as it did the last minute
before election it simply wiped Stoner off the map. He was defeated
overwhelmingly, and, between you and me and the gate-post, it was your
speech that did it. I took the liberty of appropriating it without
giving you any credit, for I knew that you wouldn't want to be mixed up
in a mess like that. Didn't I tell you that you'd be the biggest beacon
fire in the lot when you once got a-going? Well, you've started a blaze
now that'll r