The air was surcharged with expectancy
Good smoked his pipe and wondered what it all meant. The photographer lit one cigarette on the end of another, but otherwise appeared as indifferent as a graven image. Increasingly Furniss kept his eye to the keyhole. Suddenly a jerk of his arm brought the others to attention. Good emptied his pipe and took up his position by the other door. The photographer crushed out his cigarette on his heel and examined, for the hundredth time, the mechanism of his flash pistol.
For a little while they stood tense and watchful, but when nothing happened, they relaxed a trifle. The photographer lit another cigarette. Good sat down, but at a glare from the reporter, stood up again. The muffled sound of voices came to them from the other room, occasionally rising in pitch, as if in argument, though no words could be distinguished.
They remained thus for what seemed an eternity. Once Good looked at his watch. It was half past nine. The voices still rose and fell on the other side of the door. Once Sato yawned, and changed his flash pistol from one hand to the other. Suddenly Furniss turned from the keyhole, his eyes ablaze, and his lips silently formed the warning. Good, his heart thumping uncontrollably, the sense of something terrible impending, more acute than ever, put his hand on the doorknob. The photographer fingered his shutter release....
Good never afterward could tell exactly how it all happened. He never could see in his mind's eye the signal from Furniss. Yet he must have seen it, else the door would never have been opened.
All he knew at the moment, and all he could ever remember, was a sudden blinding flash of light, with a dull roar, and he was staring past a roomful of men straight into the eyes of—Judge Wolcott. They were wide with recognition and helpless terror.
Then he was conscious of a rush of scurrying feet, and a large man pushing over a chair in front—making for him.
It flashed over him that this was Hennessy, acting as if the whole thing had been planned and rehearsed. He laughed unconsciously, as if in a dream. It had been rehearsed. As the big man reached the threshold, his eyes flaming, his nostrils dilated, his jaw open, like some mad bull, Good's arm straightened mechanically. The blazing eyes and red nostrils vanished, and his knuckles hurt him vaguely. Then the lights went out in the other room, and he made for the door. He felt sick to his stomach when he reached the street, and something seemed to press on his temples till he wanted to scream.
But the horrible feeling of dread had vanished. He knew now what he had feared. And he understood the light in Furniss' eyes. For a moment he stood on the street-corner, swaying like a drunken man, before his shoulders straightened and his jaw set, and he made for a taxi.
The office was filled with suppressed excitement when he reached it. Bassett was chewing one of his interminable cigars, but the gleam in his eyes betokened the fires in his soul. Bassett wanted very much to get on the table and howl, but had anyone even so much as suspected that he was not ice, he would never have recovered from the humiliation.
"Great stuff," he said with exaggerated passiveness. "First galleys will be up soon. Furniss had most of the story written before he pulled the thing off. Great lad, Furniss."
But Good, his face grey, the skin, like old parchment, drawn tight to bursting over his high cheek bones, said never a word. He sank into a chair, staring straight before him.
"But the picture's the thing," went on Bassett, in a tone he might have employed in discussing a press-drive. "It ought to set this town by the ears. Wolcott's a big fish to land. Church pillar and all that. Wonder what made him fall. Never had anything on him before. Shouldn't wonder if he shot himself," he added, quite indifferently.
Presently a boy brought in the first batch of proofs. Bassett leaped to his desk and buried himself in them. As his pencil moved, fragmentary sentences slipped from his mouth. "Great stuff!"—"Holy Eliza, what a shock to the silk-stockings!"—"St. Viateur's'll need a new vestryman."—"Furniss—you're a bear!"—
Good rose and read listlessly over his shoulder. Then he fell to pacing slowly back and forth.
"Plate developed?" he asked finally, in a forced, dead tone.
"Bully—bully—" muttered Bassett. "What? The plate—oh—guess so. Why?"
"I want it."
Bassett turned to his telephone. In a few moments a boy arrived with the negative in his hand. The editor reached for it, but Good anticipated him. He took the plate and stood staring at it stupidly.
In the meantime Furniss had entered.
"It's all in," he said, with a heavy sigh. "Not bad—eh?"
"Best ever," said Bassett shortly. "You're some kid, Furniss." The reporter smiled happily. He wanted no more. Then he turned to Good, and studied him narrowly. But the tall man, his eyes still fixed on the plate, and his face drawn as if in physical pain, took no notice of him.
There was silence in the room, broken only by the rustle as Bassett mulled over the proofs.
Then there was a crash. The negative lay on the desk ... in fragments.
"Good God!" Furniss' hand was poised in mid-air, as if he had been turned to stone. Bassett's eyes were staring like a madman's.
Good leaned over and picking up the proofs on the desk, fell to tearing them slowly to bits. At each tear a spasm of pain crossed Furniss' face. But he remained transfixed.
"I guess—we won't—run this," said Good dully, as if speaking to himself.
The words brought Bassett to life. Like an avalanche, prayers, threats, entreaties, oaths, poured from his lips. He stormed up and down the office, his fists clenched, his clothes awry, his hair tousled. Suddenly he subsided, and in a tone like a girl's, and with a manner which one might use with insanity, he made his entreaties. Then, as suddenly, he burst into frenzy again.
Good, staring straight before him, still tearing the proofs into shreds, made no sign.
Furniss was silent too. He stared at Good unwinking, as lifeless as if carved from ivory, but with such a look of horror in his face as even Bassett, well-nigh mad with surprise and disappointment, never afterwards forgot. Then, without warning, the look of horror faded. He laughed—bitterly, but easily.
"You see, Bassett—I told you—it's just an ordinary newspaper." He laughed again. The sound sent a shiver down Good's spine. He seemed to hear it echoing and re-echoing in his ears as Furniss went out, the door slamming behind him.
When he had gone, Good turned and faced Bassett, who ceased alike to storm and to plead. The editor was sitting in his chair, chewing his cigar, already regretting that he had so far lost control of himself.
"You don't understand, do you?" asked Good with ineffable sadness in his voice.
"Yes," said Bassett, half bitterly, half sadly, "I understand."
The tall man smiled—if the pitiful, hopeless expression that came into his face could be called a smile, and put his hand on the other's shoulder.
"No," he said softly, "you don't."
As he went quietly out, from what seemed like a death-chamber, and felt Bassett's hard eyes following him, he knew that in truth something very precious had died that night.
In his own office he sat with his head in his hands.
"I'm not a machine—I'm only a man," he repeated over and over again, until he heard the refrain without speaking. "If I could only make them understand." His voice was helpless. He knew that he only half understood himself.
How long he sat thus puzzling the mystery of his own nature, he never knew. But presently he became aware that he was not alone. The room was in only partial darkness, a street lamp filling it with a sickly glow. He raised his eyes, and for a second time that night, met those of Judge Wolcott. But they were different. The sharp terror had given place to heavy pain.
"Hello," said Good, as if this was quite what he had expected.
"Mr. Good, I...." The Judge's voice was a pitiful travesty of its former masterful assurance. Never before had the Judge been obliged so to humble himself. "I don't know what I can say—only—I—I...."
"You want mercy," said Good brutally. He marvelled at the phrase. That was not what he had meant to say. It seemed to come from lips quite beyond his control.
"Not for myself." The old man's tone was inexpressibly sad, yet not without a certain dignity. "There are my daughters. I—I—would spare them."
"Belated, eh—a bit, don't you think?" Again Good was amazed at his cruelty. He seemed to be in the grasp of devils.
The Judge hung his head. "I don't know what to say," he sighed brokenly. "I only hoped—"
"That you could come snivelling to me and beg off, for the sake of your daughters, eh? Well—look here, my friend. You've given us the greatest scoop of the year." Good's tone was as hard as adamant, though there were tears in his heart. "To save your daughters from disgrace, you'd have us give up the thing we live for."
"I know—I know—but is it so much?"
"It's everything. But let that pass. Here's a thing that counts. Has it occurred to you what would happen to me if I listened to you?"
"To you?"
"Yes. If I kill this story, my work here ends. By the standards of those about me I'd be a traitor. I've preached truth without fear or favour—you understand—without fear or favour. I've fought pull with everything I've got. And now you'd have me ... man, it's a test—can't you see—it's a test!" Good's voice changed suddenly. From the court, passing sentence, he had become the condemned, pleading for clemency.
The old man drew himself up. "I see. I did not—wholly understand. It is—inevitable."
There was indescribable pathos in the resignation with which he spoke. "It is inevitable," he repeated softly. Then he turned to go.
"Why don't you see Wynrod?" asked Good with sudden harshness.
The other man laughed mirthlessly. "He is the one person from whom I'd keep—this," he said shortly. "He—he—cares for me—now...."
Good's voice changed again, and grew soft. "Judge," he asked quietly, almost indifferently, "what caused it all?"
The old man's fine white head fell on his chest, and Good felt glad, for him, in his bitter shame, that it was dark.
"I had rather not speak of that," he said wearily. "What is done is done." He rose to go. Good waited until his hand was on the doorknob.
"Wait," he whispered chokingly. His voice was lifeless. "I was joking, you know. It's all right. It's all right," he repeated, as if the words were forced from him. "The story's dead."
"I don't understand...."
"The story's killed, I tell you. You can read to-morrow's Dispatch without a tremble."
"You mean...?" The old man was clutching at his collar as if it hurt him. "You mean...?"
"For the third time—the story's dead."
"Did Roger—?"
"He knows nothing about it."
"Then you—it was you?"
"Yes—it was I." The Judge never forgot the unutterable hopelessness of Good's tone as those four words crept slowly from him.
"How can I ever...." The old man made for Good, his hand outstretched. But the latter recoiled.
"I'd rather you wouldn't. You owe me—nothing."
The Judge hesitated, not knowing what to do or say. Good was the first to speak, a subtle note in his voice, not easy to analyse.
"That liability law," he said abruptly. "It's constitutional?"
"I—er—think so."
"You're certain of it?" Good's voice had suddenly become like steel, and the old man seemed to grow visibly smaller before the keen eyes penetrating to the innermost recesses of his soul.
"Yes—I—I'm quite sure of it."
"Your mind is fully made up, of course." The meaning behind the words was unmistakable. The Judge took his cue at once.
"Absolutely."
"Good night," said Good.
"But I—" The Judge hesitated.
"Good night," repeated the tall man with a finality which brooked no question.
The old man stood embarrassedly looking at him for a moment. Then he went out, softly closing the door behind him.
Good sat staring after him, a crooked little smile twisting his lips, his body looking oddly shrunken and weak.
And there he sat unmoving, until he heard the rumble of the trucks in the street below and knew that the first edition was on its way to the world. Then he went out.
From his office he went down to the sub-basement, where the presses ground spruce forests into newspapers. For a little while he stood watching the great machines with the virgin white rolling smoothly through them like threads in a loom. He had never lost his fascination for this alchemy of power, and now, at his darkest hour, the wonder of it filled him as never before, and the roaring song seemed the sweetest sound he had ever heard.
He was buried in his dream and the man in overalls who approached him seemed but a corporeal manifestation of an idea. When he spoke it was not to a man, but to a wizard who bore the keys of truth. His soul whispered to the soul of the machines. His words stumbled far behind.
"What a marvel! What power! What magic! What possibilities unthought of ... oh, the press...."
But it was only a pressman, rather more than usually tired, who answered.
"Yes, she's a pretty good old girl. But say, you oughta see the new tubular duplex they're gettin' out! It's got this skinned a mile. Why say...."
Good's revery faded. Reality obtruded. This poor Prometheus, dabbling boastfully with the fire of the gods—ah, well ... who that read The Dispatch on the morrow, with his toast and coffee, would know the magic, the wonder, the poetry in his hands? Would it be ought but a newspaper to a single one? Blind world!
"What drives the presses?" he asked dreamily.
"Well, this one has a G. E. polyphase, monitor control, with ..." began the pressman. But the words fell on empty air. The other man had gone.