in almost as awed as
Mr. Black had been.

"She's a driver," said the foreman. "She was made for a boss. She has
it in her eye."

Even Jack, when he was sent up after copy, was a little astonished.

"That's the way father looks," he thought, "whenever he begins to lose
his temper. The men mind him then, too; but he has to be waked up
first. I know how she feels. She's bound the _Eagle_ shall come out
on time!"

Even Jack did not appreciate how responsibility was waking up Mary
Ogden, or how much older she felt than when she left Crofield; but he
had an idea that she was taller, and that her eyes had become darker.

Mr. Bones, the man of all work in the front office below, was of the
opinion that she was very tall, and that her eyes were very black, and
that he did not care to go up-stairs again; for he had blundered into
the sanctum, supposing that Mr. Murdoch was there, and remarking as he
came:

"Sa-ay, that there underdone gawk that helps edit the _Inquirer_, he
was jist in, lookin' for--yes, ma'am! Beg pardon, ma'am! I'm only
Bones--"

"What did the gentleman want, Mr. Bones?" asked Mary, with much
dignity. "Mr. Murdoch is at home. He is ill. Is it anything I can
attend to?"

"Oh, no, ma'am; nothing, ma'am. He's a blower. We don't mind him,
ma'am. I'll go down right away, ma'am. I'll see Mr. Black, ma'am.
Thank you, ma'am."

He withdrew with many bows; and while down-stairs he saw Jack, and he
not only saw, but felt, that something very new and queer had happened
to the Mertonville _Eagle_.

Both Mary and Jack were aware that there was a rival newspaper, but it
had not occurred to them that they were at all interested in the
_Inquirer_, or in its editors, beyond the fact that both papers were
published on Thursdays, and that the _Eagle_ was the larger.

The printers worked fast that day, as if something spurred them on, and
Mr. Black was almost bright when he reported to Mary how much they had
done during the day.

"The new boy's the best 'devil' we ever had, ma'am," said he. "Please
say to Mr. Murdoch we'd better keep him."

"Thank you, Mr. Black," said she. "I hope Mr. Murdoch will soon be
well."

He stumped away, and it seemed to her as if her dignity barely lasted
until she and Jack found themselves in Mr. Murdoch's garden, on their
way home. It broke completely down as they were going between the
sweet-corn and the tomatoes, and there they both stopped and laughed
heartily.