“An echo of vox populi?  Does that excuse its sins?”

“I’m not putting it forth as an excuse.  Is it really sins or only bad taste that offends you?”

“Clever, Ban.  And true in a measure.  But insincerity is more than bad taste.  It’s one of the primal sins.”

“You find The Patriot insincere?”

“Can I find it anything else, knowing you?”

“Ah, there you go wrong again, Miss Camilla.  As an expression of my ideals, the news part of the paper would be insincere.  I don’t like it much better than you do.  But I endure it; yes, I’ll be frank and admit that I even encourage it, because it gives me wider scope for the things I want to say.  Sincere things.  I’ve never yet written in my editorial column anything that I don’t believe from the bottom of my soul.  Take that as a basis on which to judge me.”

“My dear Ban!  I don’t want to judge you.”

“I want you to,” he cried eagerly.  “I want your judgment and your criticism.  But you must see what I’m aiming for.  Miss Camilla, I’m making people stir their minds and think who never before had a thought beyond the everyday processes of life.”

“For your own purposes?  Thought, as you manipulate it, might be a high-explosive.  Have you thought of using it in that way?”

“If I found a part of the social edifice that had to be blown to pieces, I might.”

“Take care that you don’t involve us all in the crash.  Meantime, what is the rest of your editorial page; a species of sedative to lull their minds?  Who is Evadne Ellington?”

“One of our most prominent young murderesses.”

“And you let her sign a column on your page?”

“Oh, she’s a highly moral murderess.  Killed her lover in defense of her honor, you know.  Which means that she shot him when he got tired of her.  A sobbing jury promptly acquitted her, and now she’s writing ’Warnings to Young Girls.’  They’re most improving and affecting, I assure you.  We look after that.”

“Ban!  I hate to have you so cynical.”

“Not at all,” he protested.  “Ask the Prevention of Vice people and the criminologists.  They’ll tell you that Evadne’s column is a real influence for good among the people who read and believe it.”

“What class is Reformed Rennigan’s sermon aimed at?” she inquired, with wrinkling nostrils. “‘Soaking it to Satan’; is that another regular feature?”

“Twice a week.  It gives us a Y.M.C.A. circulation that is worth a good deal to us.  Outside of my double column, the page is a sort of forum.  I’ll take anything that is interesting or authoritative.  For example, if Royce Melvin had something of value to say to the public about music, where else could she find so wide a hearing as through The Patriot?”

“No, I thank you,” returned his visitor dryly.

“No?  Are you sure?  What is your opinion of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ as a national song?”