Carmen Ariza Part 154

"Then I'll shoot him! I'll--! But we've got the goods on him! Carmen and I saw him bribe Wales! We'll expose him!"

Hitt laughed. "Forget all that," he said, laying a hand on the excited man's arm. "Remember, that Wales would never dare breathe a word of it; Carmen has no reputation or standing whatsoever now in this city; and Ames would make out a case of blackmail against you so quickly that it would sweep you right into the Tombs. Go easy. And first, let us get the girl herself down here."

He took the telephone and called up several of the University departments, after first ascertaining that she was not at her home.

Then, having located her, he plunged into a study of the situation with the distracted publisher.

"That's the way of it!" cried Haynerd at length. "Here I waste my evenings in learned philosophical discussions with you people, and meantime, while we're figuring out that there is no evil, that monster, Ames, stretches out a tentacle and strangles me! Fine practical discussions we've been having, ain't they? I tell you, I'm through with 'em!" He brought his fist down upon the desk with a crash.

"Ned," said Hitt, "you're a fool."

"Sure I am!" shouted Haynerd. "Do I deny it? Here I had a nice, clean business, no work, good pay--and, just because I a.s.sociated with you and that girl, the whole d.a.m.n thing goes up the flue! Pays to be good, doesn't it? Nix!"

"H'm; well, Ned, you're not only a fool, but a blooming idiot,"

replied Hitt calmly.

"Lay it on! Lay it on thick!" roared Haynerd. "And if you run out of epithets, I'll supply a few! I'm a--"

The door swung open, and Carmen entered, fresh as the sea breeze, and panting with her haste. "Do you know," she began eagerly, "two men followed me all the way down from the University! They watched me come in here, and--but, what is wrong with you two?" She stopped and looked inquiringly from one to the other.

"Well," began Hitt hesitatingly, "we were reflecting--"

"Reflecting? What? Good, or evil?" she demanded.

"We were just holding a wake, that's all," muttered Haynerd.

"Then wake up!" she cried, seizing his hand.

Hitt pushed out a chair for the girl, and bade her sit down. Then he briefly related the events which had led to her being summoned. "And now," he concluded, "the question is, does Wales know that you and Ned saw Ames try to bribe him?"

"Why, of course he knows!" cried Carmen. "His wife told him."

"And who informed her?"

"I did--last Monday morning, early," answered the wondering girl.

"Didn't I tell you?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Haynerd, turning upon Hitt and waving his arms about. "What do you--"

"Hold your tongue, Ned!" interrupted Hitt. Then, to Carmen, "Why did you tell her?"

"Why--to save her, and her husband, and babies! I told her because it was right! You know it was right!"

"But, to save them, you have ruined Ned," pursued Hitt.

The girl turned to Haynerd, who sat doubled up in his chair, the picture of despair. "I haven't ruined you, Ned." It was the first time she had used this name in addressing him. "Things never happen, you know. And if you have been pushed out of this business, it is because it isn't fit for you, and because you've been awakened. You are for higher, better things than the publis.h.i.+ng of such a magazine as the Social Era. I knew you just couldn't stay at this work. You have got to go up--"

"Eh!" Haynerd had roused out of his torpor. "Go up? Yes, I've gone up, nicely! And I was making ten thousand dollars a year out of it! It was a bully proposition!" he blurted.

The girl smiled. "I wasn't speaking of money," she said.

"But I was!" retorted Haynerd. "When I talk, it's in dollars and cents!"

"And that's why your talk is mostly nonsense," put in Hitt. "The girl's right, I guess. You've stagnated here long enough, Ned. There's no such thing as standing still. Progress is a divine demand. It's now your move."

"But--good Lord! what am I to do?" wailed the man.

"You now have a grand opportunity," said Carmen, taking his hand.

"Opportunity!"

"Yes; every trial in this life is an opportunity to prove that there is no evil," she said. "Listen; you have been trained as a publisher.

Very well, the world is waiting for the right kind of publications.

Oh, I've seen it for a long, long time. The demand is simply tremendous. Now meet it!"

Haynerd looked confusedly from Carmen to Hitt. The latter turned to the girl. "What, exactly, do you mean, Carmen?" he asked.

"Let him publish now a clean magazine, or paper; let him print real news; let him work, not for rich people's money, but for all people.

Why, the press is the greatest educator in the world! But, oh, how it has been abused! Now let him come out boldly and stand for clean journalism. Let him find his own life, his own good, in service for others."

"But, Carmen," protested Hitt, "do the people want clean journalism?

Could such a paper stand?"

"It could, if it had the right thought back of it," returned the confident girl.

Haynerd had again lapsed into sulky silence. But Hitt pondered the girl's words for some moments. She was not the first nor the only one who had voiced such sentiments. He himself had even dared to hold the same thoughts, and to read in them a leading that came not from material ambitions. Then, of a sudden, an idea flamed up in his mind.

"The Express!" he exclaimed.

Carmen waited expectantly. Hitt's eyes widened with his expanding thought. "Carlson, editor of the Express, wants to sell," he continued, speaking rapidly.

"It's a semi-weekly newspaper, printed only for country circulation; has no subscription list," commented Haynerd, with a cynical shrug of his shoulders.

"Buy it!" exclaimed Carmen. "Buy it! And change it into a daily! Make it a real newspaper!"

Hitt looked into Carmen's glowing eyes. "How old are you?" he suddenly asked. The abruptness of the strange, apparently irrelevant question startled the girl.

"Why," she replied slowly, "as old as--as G.o.d. And as young."

"And, as human beings reckon time, eighteen, eh?" continued Hitt.

She nodded, wondering what the question meant. Hitt then turned to Haynerd. "How much money can you sc.r.a.pe together, if you sell this lot of junk?" he asked, sweeping the place with a glance.

"Five or six thousand, all told, including bank account, bonds, and everything, I suppose," replied Haynerd mechanically.

"Carlson wants forty thousand for the Express. I'm not a rich man, as wealth is estimated to-day, but--well, oil is still flowing down in Ohio. It isn't the money--it's--it's what's back of the cash."

Carmen reached over and laid a hand on his arm. "We can do it," she whispered.

Hitt hesitated a moment longer, then sprang to his feet. "And we will!" he cried. "I've pondered and studied this scheme for a year, but I've only to-day seen the right help. That is your tremendous, driving thought," he said, turning to Carmen. "That thought is a spiritual dynamite, that will blast its way through every material obstacle! Ned," seizing Haynerd by the shoulder and shaking him out of his chair, "rouse up! Your light has come! Now I'll 'phone Carlson right away and make an appointment to talk business with him. You'll stand with me, Carmen?"