"Thanks," said McCarthy, gripping the manager's hand gratefully, just as a knock sounded on the door and Technicalities Feehan entered.
"I regret exceedingly my absence when you wanted me, Mr. Clancy," he said. "I have just returned and have been reading this absurd article reflecting upon the integrity of Mr. McCarthy."
"What do you think of it?" asked Swanson.
"Absurd. The figures prove directly the contrary. Let me read to you some of my recent calculations"——
"Never mind—never mind," protested Clancy. "Save them for the paper. What I wanted to find out is who is this fellow Barney Baldwin?"
"Baldwin," said Feehan calmly, "is a politician, accused of much crooked work. I do not know that he ever has been convicted"——
"Meantime," remarked Feehan calmly, "I shall attempt to discover the relations existing between Mr. Edwards, the gamester, and this person who wrote this attack. I shall have some statistics to show the editor"——
"Never mind the statistics," said Clancy, cutting off Feehan before he could bestride his hobby, "I want you to find out who was back of the fellow who wrote that article; whether anyone bribed him to do it. I'm beginning to think we are dealing with bigger men than Ed Edwards.
"Now see here, fellows," he added frowning worriedly, "we're up against the toughest proposition we ever tackled, but we can beat it. The best way to beat them is to pretend we don't suspect a thing and let them work out their own schemes"——"Hello, come in," he called in response to a rap on the door. "Oh, it's you, Bannard! How are you? I'm just having a little talk with the boys. How are things to-day?"
He feigned an indifferent manner.