"I've just had a message from E.M. Pierce."
"Did you obey a royal command and go to his office?"
"No."
"Neither did I."
"With you it's different. You're a younger man. And Elias M. Pierce is the most powerful—um—er—well, as powerful as any man in Worthington."
"Outside of this office, possibly."
"Don't you be foolish, Boy-ee. You can't fight him."
"Nor do I want to," said Hal, a little chilled, nevertheless, by the gravity of the paternal tone. "But when he comes in here and dictates what the 'Clarion' shall and shall not print—"
"About his own daughter."
"News, father. It's news."