“Ay-ah. That was a fool question of mine. But I mean, you can feel the paper taking hold all the time, can’t you? We’re certainly putting it over. We’ve made a Governor already. What do you expect? Want to elect a President and Congress?”
“The Governor is one of my troubles, Andy.”
“Butting in?”
“You can’t call it that.”
“What can you call it?” demanded the downright Galpin.
“Well, boosting. Without him we would n’t be where we are.”
“Nor anywhere else,” added the other with emphasis. “Probably not. I appreciate that. I’d give him the paper, if he needed it, as far as that goes. But as long as my name is on it, I want it to be my paper.”
“Well, ‘Smiling Mart’ isn’t trying to pry it away from you, is he?’
“Of course not. It’s hard to put into words. But I feel as if I—we—The Guardian were being surrounded by a sort of political web.”
“The Governor being the spider?”