he saw a figure glide swiftly out of the open door of his room. It was
no doubt his neighbor, who had been seeking her children, and as he
heard their voices as he passed, his uneasiness and suspicions were
removed.
He sat down again to his scattered papers and proofs, finished his work,
and took it to the office on his way to dinner. He returned early, in
the hope that he might meet his neighbor again, and had quite settled
his mind that he was justified in offering a civil "Good-evening" to
her, in spite of his previous respectful ignoring of her presence. She
must certainly have become aware by this time of his attention to
her children and consideration for herself, and could not mistake his
motives. But he was disappointed, although he came up softly; he found
the floor in darkness and silence on his return, and he had to be
content with lighting his gas and settling down to work again.
A near church clock had struck ten when he was startled by the sound of
an unfamiliar and uncertain step in the hall, followed by a tap at his
door. Breeze jumped to his feet, and was astonished to find Dick, the
"printer's devil," standing on the threshold with a roll of proofs in
his hand.
"How did you get here?" he asked testily.
"They told me at the restaurant they reckoned you lived yere, and the
night watchman at the door headed me straight up. When he knew whar I
kem from he wanted to know what the news was, but I told him he'd better
buy an extra and see."
"Well, what did you come for?" said the editor impatiently.
"The foreman said it was important, and he wanted to know afore he went
to press ef this yer correction was YOURS?"
He went to the table, unrolled the proofs, and, taking out the slip,
pointed to a marked paragraph. "The foreman says the reporter who
brought the news allows he got it straight first-hand! But ef you've
corrected it, he reckons you know best."
Breeze saw at a glance that the paragraph alluded to was not of his own
writing, but one of several news items furnished by reporters. These
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