is as publisher, for permitting smoking in the city room.
From time immemorial every edition of every newspaper in the United
States of America has evolved out of rolling clouds of tobacco smoke:
but the "Clarion" alone, apparently, had come within the purview of the
law. Subsequently, Hal learned, to his amusement, that all the other
newspaper offices were placarded with notices of the law in Yiddish, so
that none might be unduly disturbed thereby! To give point to the
discrimination, down on the street, a zealous policeman arrested one of
the "Clarion's" bulk-paper handlers for obstructing the sidewalk.

"Pierce's political pull is certainly working," observed Ellis, "but
it's coarse work."

Finer was to come. Two libel suits mushroomed into view in as many days,
provoked, as it were, out of conscious nothing; unimportant but
harassing: one, brought by a ne'er-do-well who had broken a leg while
engaged in a drunken prank months before, the other the outcome of a
paragraph on a little, semi-fraudulent charity.

"I'll bet that eminent legal light, Mr. William Douglas, could tell
something about these," said Ellis, "though his name doesn't appeal on
the papers."

"We'll print these, too,--and we'll tell the reason for them," said Hal.

But on this last point his assistant dissuaded him. The efficient
argument was that it would look like whining, and the one thing which a
newspaper must not do was to lament its own ill-treatment.

On top of the libel suits came a letter from the Midland National Bank,
stating with perfect courtesy that, under its present organization, a
complicated account like that of the "Clarion" was inconvenient to
handle; wherefore the bank was reluctantly obliged to request its
withdrawal.

"Bottling us up financially," remarked Ellis. "I expected this, before."

"There are other banks than the Midland that'll be glad of our
business," replied Hal.

"Probably not."

"No? Then they're curious institutions."

"There isn't one of 'em in which Elias M. Pierce isn't a controlling
factor. Ask your father."

On the following day when Dr. Surtaine, who had been out of town for
several days, dropped in at the office, Hal had a memorandum ready on
the point. The old quack eased himself into a chair with his fine air
of ample leisure, creating for himself a fragrant halo of cigar smoke.

"Well, Boyee." The tone was a mingling of warm affection and
semi-humorous reproach. "You went and did it to