otch soul, was inclined to look with
favour upon these new activities, for they promised well for the future
prosperity of the _Star_; but this friendly tolerance was blasted as the
result of a curious incident. Fergus had lived for several years in the
back part of the printing-office. It was a small but comfortable room
which had once been the kitchen of the house. In the course of his
ravening excursions, seeking what he might devour, Ed Smith presently
fell upon Fergus's room. Ed never could understand the enduring solidity
of ancient institutions. Now Fergus's room, I am prone to admit, was not
all that might have been desired, Fergus being a bachelor; but he was
proud of it, and swept it out once a month, as he said, whether it
needed it or not. Ed's innocent suggestion, therefore, of a
house-cleaning was taken by Fergus as a deadly affront. He did not
complain to Anthy, though he told _me_, and from that moment he began a
silent, obstinate opposition to everything that Ed was, or thought, or
did.

If it had not been for Anthy, Ed would indeed have had a hard time of
it. But Anthy managed it, and in those days, hard as they were, she was
finding herself, becoming a woman.

"Fergus," she said, "we're going to stand behind Ed Smith. We've _got_
to work it out. It's our last chance, Fergus."

So Fergus stuck grimly to the cases, actually doing more work than he
had done before in years; Tom, the cat, sat warily on the window sill,
ready at a moment's notice to dive to safety; the old Captain was
gloomy, and wrote fierce editorials on the Democratic party and on all
"new-fangled notions" (especially flying machines and woman suffrage).
His ironies about the "initiative, referendum, and recall" were
particularly vitriolic during this period of his career. Anthy was the
only cheerful person in the office.

It was some time in August, in the midst of these stirring events, when
the _Star_ was deporting itself in such an unprecedented manner, that
the Captain one day brought in what was destined to be one of the most
famous news items, if not _the_ most famous, ever published in the
_Star_.

I was there at the time, and I can testify that he came in quite
unconcernedly, though there was an evident look of disapproval upon his
countenance. It was thus with the Captain, that nothing was news unless
it stirred him to an opinion. An earthquake might have shaken down the
Hempfield townhall or tipped over the Congregation