"Ellis, are you trying to plant an impression in my mind?"
"No."
"You're doing it."
"Of what sort?"
"I hardly know. Something subtle, and lurking and underhanded in the business. I feel as if you had your hands on a curtain that you might pull aside if you would, but that you don't want to shock my—my youthfulness."
"Plain facts are what you want, aren't they?"
"Exactly."
"Well, I'm giving them to you as plain as you can understand them. I don't want to tell you more than you're ready to believe."
"Try it, as an experiment."
"Who do you suppose runs the newspapers of this town?"