ts. He asked me if I knew who was
behind the scheme. I said I knew some of the backers. They were pretty
big men, too. Then he informed me that he himself was deeply interested.

"I was knocked off my feet by that, you can imagine. And, to be frank,
Captain, if I had known it at first I'm not sure that I, personally,
would have taken the matter up. Yet I might; I can't tell. But now that
I had done it and discovered what I had, I couldn't give it up. I must
go on and learn more. And I knew enough already to be certain that the
more I learned the more I should write and have published. It was one of
those things which had to be made public--if a fellow had a conscience
about him and a pride in the decency of his profession.

"All this was going through my head as I sat there in his private
office. And he took my surprise and hesitation as symptoms of wavering
and went at me, hard. Of course I knew, he said, that the operation was
absolutely within the law. I did, but that didn't make it more honest or
moral or just. He went on to say that in large financial deals of this
nature petty scruples must be lost sight of. Good of the business,
rights of stockholders, all that sort of stuff; he rang the changes. All
the papers cared for was sensation; to imperil the fortune of widows and
orphans whose savings were invested in the South Shore Stock, for the
sake of sensation, was a crime. He should have known better than to say
that to me; it is such an ancient, worn-out platitude."

"I know. I've been to political meetin's. The widows and orphans
are always hangin' on the success of the Republican party--or the
Democratic, whichever way you vote. The amount of tears shed over their
investments by fellers you wouldn't trust with a brass five-cent piece,
is somethin' amazin'. Go on; I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Then he switched to a more personal appeal. He said he had taken a
fancy to me; had liked me from the very beginning. He recognized my
unusual genius at first sight and had gone as far as to make plans
bearing directly on my future. He was associated with men of wealth and
business sagacity. Large deals, of which the Trolley Combine was but
one, were on foot. He and his friends needed a representative on the
press--a publicity agent, so to speak. Some of the greatest corporations
employed men of that kind, and the salaries paid were large and the
opportunities afforded greater still. Well, that's true enough. I know
wr