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and yet it seemed that rose-ann knew him better than he knew himself.

on monday morning the city editor gruffly assigned him a desk. he hated to sit there idle, and he had thrown away his morning paper. finding that he still had rose-ann’s little book in his pocket, he took it out and read in that. presently the city editor called his name. he rose, putting the book back into his pocket. his first test had come.

“go over to the annex and see if you can get something about the taft-roosevelt situation from—” and he named a distinguished political personage.

“where?” felix asked.

“at the annex.”

(but what in the world was the annex? from the tone in which its name had been uttered by the city editor, felix was aware that it was some place that he ought to know all about. some place that anybody who had ever dreamed of being a reporter on a chicago paper would of course know all about! but what was it? the annex to what?... by a violent mental effort he came to the conclusion that it must be a hotel; probably one of chicago’s most famous hotels! and here he had been in chicago a month, and didn’t know where it was. idiot!)

“yes, sir,” said felix to the city editor, and went out and asked the policeman on the nearest corner.... it was horribly obvious to him, at that moment, that he was too ignorant of plain everyday reality ever to hold this job.

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he came back, having failed to get the interview.... he had been given half an hour by a delightful old gentleman at the annex; half an hour in which to try to get some kind of quotable political comment on a situation in which everybody was interested, from a man who, if any one, knew what the situation really was. and every question had been turned aside so cleverly, so smoothly, so genially, that under other circumstances it would have been a pleasure to see it done. the old gentleman had been the soul of courtesy; he seemed to enjoy talking to his young questioner; doubtless because it was so easy to put him off the track.

at first felix’s questions had been straightforward; and the evasiveness of the replies had disconcerted him. he framed his questions more shrewdly; but the old gentleman answered them with the same bland courtesy and to precisely the same effect. felix kept on for a while, doggedly. and then gradually he realized—what, he told himself scornfully, he should have known from the very start, that he had been sent out on a futile quest. if there had been the slightest chance of getting anything out of this old gentleman, the best reporter on the staff would have been sent—not the newest and greenest cub.

he was angry—at himself, for having tried so na?vely to do the impossible; at the city editor, for not giving him a real assignment; at the tradition of “news,” which, having attached a fictitious importance to the subject of politics, was wasting his time and the old gentleman’s in this solemnly idiotic fashion.

“is there anything else i could tell you about?” the old gentleman asked blandly.

“you have been very kind—” said felix.

“oh, not at all,” said the old gentleman. “nothing pleases me more than to give information to a young seeker after truth.”

“there is one thing i would like to know,” said felix. “who struck billy patterson?”

49this insulting question—insulting precisely because it was silly, because it threw the whole earnest interview suddenly into the key of farce—did not for an instant shake the old gentleman’s aplomb. he appeared to reflect gravely, with finger-tips delicately joined and head cocked on one side, in his characteristic gesture. he smiled faintly, and spoke.

“you have trenched,” he said, “upon an important public issue, and one not lightly to be discussed—a question of deep interest to hundreds of thousands of our fellow-countrymen. in fact, i have seldom been in any gathering of true americans, when this question has not been raised. who struck billy patterson? again and again have i heard men ask each other that question. and how seldom, if ever, has the reply been satisfactory! no, i say frankly to you, the reply has not been satisfactory. and so the question remains—like banquo’s ghost, it will not down. careless and unthinking statesmen may try to lead the people astray with talk of minor issues, such as the tariff, imperialism, and the conservation of natural resources, but the heart of the american people remains true. when the shouting and the tumult dies, and the senators go back to washington, common men look at each other and ask, who struck billy patterson? it is a question that searches to the very vitals of our polity. we boast of our unexampled freedom, our magnificent opportunities; and rightly so. but justice, even-handed and sure, is the true foundation of a lasting prosperity. we know this, and we are humble before the muse of history. be it said in our behalf that others have not had to prod at our sleeping consciences. it is not because of outside criticism that we trouble ourselves over this matter. the frenchman and the turk do not point the finger of scorn at us; and even our brothers across the sea, speaking our own language, are probably ignorant of william patterson’s very name. but we do not forget. and whatever happens, so long as this question remains unanswered, i venture to predict that no other issue will usurp its place; and on the heart of the last american will be written the solemn words: who struck billy patterson? is there anything else?”

50so the old gentleman could play that game, too!

“well,” said felix, “i was going to ask you if—if you thought mcphairson conglocketty angus mcclan got a square deal, but—”

the old gentleman shook his head, still smiling.

“i really don’t think it would be proper,” he said, “for me to discuss the internal affairs of the british empire.”

“and noah’s ark,” said felix. “if you could express an opinion—”

“it might be construed as a reflection upon the naval policy of the new administration.”

“and as to what became of little charley ross?”

“that,” said the old gentleman, “is something the national committee would prefer to remain, for the present, a secret.”

felix was beaten.

“thank you,” he said, and went away.

“got anything?” the city editor asked, when felix came up to his desk to report.

“not a thing.” felix said.

the city editor grunted, reached out for a typewritten sheet on the hook, and seemed to dismiss the matter from his mind.

felix went back to his desk and sat there idly. he took out rose-ann’s little book from his pocket, and read in it. and then suddenly he put a sheet of paper in his machine and commenced to write.

confound it, if what rose-ann said about the people of chicago was so, they would enjoy the true story of that interview. it was funny. funny just because it was silly. but it was so preposterously the opposite of what he had been sent to find out—it seemed a deliberate mockery of the traditional and legitimate curiosity of the public. if he ventured to show it to the city editor, it would probably be his last assignment.

recklessly, he wrote it.

the city editor strolled to the water-tank, and back, wiping his lips. he saw felix writing, came over, put a hand on his shoulder, and asked, “what are you writing?”

51well, he was lost. there was no backing out now. he handed over the first sheets.

“thought you didn’t get anything,” the city editor remarked.

“i—didn’t,” said felix.

“where’s the rest of it?”

felix wrote the last sentence, and surrendered the page.

“he said this?” asked the city editor, pausing for a moment. felix nodded. “just like the old bird, too,” the city editor muttered, and went on reading. he read to the end, and then read the first page again, and then smiled amiably. “and you didn’t know you had a story!” he said.

“well,” said felix, still incredulous. “i didn’t think—”

“you’re sure you’ve got it right?” the city editor asked, rubbing his chin.

“every word,” said felix, earnest in behalf of his veracity.

“h’m,” said the city editor. “with a little fixing up, i think we’ve got a nice little story here.” he carried it into the managing editor’s room.

and to felix’s great astonishment the story, with a few changes, was printed on the first page, under a solemnly ironic heading.... they were laughing about it in the editorial room when he ventured in that afternoon to see clive. “so you had a story and didn’t know it!” willie said delightedly.

“never mind,” clive told him, “you’ve made a hit with harris by letting him discover the story for himself.” clive really seemed to think he had played a kind of trick on harris. “the regular cub trick,” said clive.

felix showed the story to rose-ann that night.

she was pleased, but not surprised. “it’s exactly the sort of thing i expected you to do,” she said.

he was tempted to tell rose-ann the truth about it; but he decided not to. let her keep on believing in him—while she could!