“What is it, Veltman?” he asked sharply.

“That epidemic story.”

“Well?  What about it?”

“Did you order it killed?”

“Certainly.  Haven’t you thrown it down?”

“No.  It’s still in type.”

“Throw it down at once.”

“Mr. Surtaine, have you thought what you are doing?”

“It is no part of your job to catechize me, Veltman.”

“Between man and man.”  He stepped close to Hal, his face blazing with exaltation.  “I must speak now or forever hold my peace.”

“Speak fast, then.”

“It’s your last chance, this epidemic spread.  Your last chance to save the ‘Clarion’ and yourself.”

“That will do, Velt—­”

“No, no!  Listen to me.  I didn’t say a word when you kept Milly’s suicide out of print.”

“I should think not, indeed!” retorted Hal angrily.

“That’s my shame.  I ought to have seen that published if I had to set it up myself.”

“Perhaps you’re not aware, Veltman, that I know your part in the Neal affair.”

“I’d have confessed to you, if you hadn’t.  But do you know your own?  Yours and your father’s?”

“Keep my father out of this!”

“Your own, then.  Do you know that the money that bought this paper for you was coined out of the blood of deceived girls?  Do you know that you and I are paid with the proceeds of the ad. that led Milly Neal to her death?  Do you know that?”

“And if I do, what then?” asked Hal, overborne by the man’s conviction and vehemence.

“Tell it!” cried the other, beating his fist upon the desk until the blood oozed from the knuckles.  “Tell it in print.  Confess, man, and warn others!”

“Veltman, suppose we were to print that whole wretched story to-morrow, including the truth about your relations with her.”

“Do it!  Do it!” cried the other, choked with eagerness.  “I’d thank you on my knees.  Penance!  Give me my chance to do penance!  I’ll make my own confession in writing.  I’ll write it in my own blood if need be.”

“Steady, Veltman.  Keep cool.”

“You think I’m crazy?  Perhaps I am.  There’s a fire at my brain since she died.  I loved her, Mr. Surtaine.”

“But you sacrificed her, Veltman,” returned Hal in a gentler tone, for the man’s face was livid with agony.

“Don’t I know it!  My God, don’t I know it!  But you can’t escape the responsibility because of my sin.  It was your paper that helped fool her.  She believed in the paper, and in your father.”

“The Relief Pills advertising is out.  That much I’ll tell you.”

“Now that it’s done its work.  Not enough!  You and I can’t bring Milly back to life, Mr. Surtaine, but we can save other lives in peril.  God has given you your chance, in this epidemic.”

“How do you know about the epidemic?”

“Hasn’t it taken Mr. Hale, the only friend I’ve got in the world?  And won’t it take its hundreds of other lives unless warning is given?  Why doesn’t the ‘Clarion’ speak out, Mr. Surtaine? Why is that story ordered killed?”