g of 'Kitty the Cutie.'"

"What were you thinking of her?"

"Only that Max Veltman would have gone through hell-fire for her. And,
from his looks, he's been through and had the heart burned out of him."

With that he resumed his proof-reading in a dogged silence.

To Hal's great relief Veltman kept out of his way. The man seemed dazed
with misery, but did his work well enough. Rumors reached the office
that he was striving to gain a refuge from his sufferings by giving all
his leisure hours to work in the Rookeries district, under the direction
of the Reverend Norman Hale. Ellis was of the opinion that his mind was
somewhat affected, and that he would bear watching a bit; and was the
more disturbed in that Veltman shared the secret of the great epidemic
"spread," now practically completed for the "Clarion's" publishing or
suppressing. Ellis held the belief that, now, Hal would order it
suppressed. The man who had shirked his responsibility to Milly Neal
could hardly be relied on for the stamina necessary to such an
exploitation.

The time was at hand for the decision to be made. The two physicians,
Elliot and Merritt, pressed for publication. Every day, they pointed
out, not only meant a further risk of life, but also increased the
impending danger of a general outburst which would find the city wholly
unprepared. On the other hand, the journalists, Ellis and Wayne, held
out for delay. They perceived the one weak point in their case, that
neither a dead body nor a living patient had as yet come to the hands of
the constituted authorities for diagnosis. The sole determination had
been made on corpses carried across the line and now probably impossible
of identification. The committee fund was doing its work of concealment
effectually. But Fate tripped the strategy board at last, using the
Reverend Norman Hale as its agent.

Since Milly Neal's death, the Reverend Norman had tried to find time to
call on Hal Surtaine, and had failed. He wished to talk with him about
Veltman. Three days after the funeral he had hauled the "Clarion's"
foreman out of the gutter, stood between him and suicide for one savage
night of struggle, and listened to the remorse of a haunted soul. Being
a man and a brother, the Reverend Norman forbore blame or admonition;
being a physician of the inner being, he devised work for the wreck in
his slums, and had driven him relentlessly that he might find peace in
the service of others. Slowly the m