"You are an unscrupulous person!" growled the old man.
"You have that down, Desmond? Continue, Mr. Brown," said Denis Quirk.
"Robber! Forger!" cried the old man, roused to fury. "You have neither manners nor honesty."
Therewith he rose and rushed into the street, and the burst of laughter that he heard as he went did not tend to make him better pleased or satisfied.
"Do you intend to prosecute?" asked Desmond O'Connor.
"Prosecute! No, my lad, I only defend actions for libel. If he had used every term of reproach in every dictionary, I would not be tempted to a prosecution. I am highly flattered. It proves that I have succeeded in making the old man uncomfortable, and satisfies me. Just write a humorous sketch on the little skirmish, but don't give any names. The town will understand who is the principal character if you manage your article dexterously and with humour. Bring it to me to touch up when the sketch is completed."
For two weeks longer "The Observer" struggled on; then Ebenezer Brown sent an intermediary, in the person of a lawyer, to make terms.
"There is only one possible arrangement—"The Observer" goes out," said Quirk. "How much does Ebenezer Brown ask?"
"His proposal is to buy 'The Mercury,'" replied the messenger.