"Drunk,  I  guess."

"What  do  you  think?"

"  I  think  yes."

"All  right,  if  he's  sobered  up.  Tell  him  it  mustn't
happen  again."

There  was  a  gleam  in  McGuire  Ellis's  eye.  "Suppose
you  tell  him  that  it  must  n't  happen  again.  It  would  come
with  more  force  from  you."

305


THE  CLARION

Hal  whirled  in  his  chair.  "  Mac,  what's  the  matter  with
you?"

"Nothing.    I  was  just  thinking  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  direc
tion  of  the  Reverend  Norman  Hale.  Ellis  was  of  the  opin
ion  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.
