On the way home in the train that night Dick concluded that he would say nothing in the office about the attempt to bribe him. There was nothing in the episode that he could reproach himself with, and yet the mere offer of a bribe to him seemed to him to involve some disgrace. There must have been something in his manner, he was afraid, that led the gambler to believe that he could be bought; and the thought worried him. He had nothing to write; before he saw Mr. Hyer he had made up his mind that no unfairness could be proved, however strong the suspicion might be. The gambler’s effort at bribery convinced him that something was wrong, and he would have been delighted to make an exposure; but he had no facts to go upon. Some unimportant matter was given him to investigate in the morning, and when he returned to the office about the middle of the afternoon Dick was startled by a word from the city editor:-- “Mr. Harding has been inquiring for you, Sumner. I think he is disengaged now, and you had better go into his room.” Mr. Harding, the editor-in-chief! In his months in the office Dick had not set foot in the real editor’s room, and had seen him only two or three times. A few months before he would have thought nothing of such a summons, for he was accustomed to talking with Mr. Davis, the editor of The Russellville Record. But he had learned what a great man the editor of a big New York paper is, at least in his own office; how autocratic, how unapproachable, how weirdly, wonderfully imposing, a summons from the editor-in-chief sets even the managing editor in a flutter! “Come in, Sumner,” was Mr. Harding’s greeting. He spoke very pleasantly Dick thought, for so great a man; but his manner was quick and decided, as though he had many reputations to make or mar before sunset. “You have been up at Saratoga, have you?” “Yes, sir,” Dick answered, “I went up about”-- “No matter! Never mind what about; Mr. Brown will attend to that. And you had a peculiar experience up there, did you?” Dick started. How could Mr. Harding have heard of his peculiar experience, when he had not mentioned it to a soul in the office? “Yes, sir,” he answered, “I had a very unpleasant experience.” “Sit down here and tell me all about it, but briefly, briefly.” And as the editor pointed to a chair Dick wondered how he could find time to listen to so small a matter, with such an awful collection of letters and manuscript and proofs piled before him. “Never mind the news part. Who was it offered you the money?” “Mr. Hyer, sir,” Dick replied; and in as few words as possible he described the circumstances. “H’m, Hyer! I thought so. Then the charges against him are true. Bribery is always a confession of weakness, Mr. Sumner. I have a letter here from my friend Clair that will interest you; you may read it.” Wonderingly, Dick took the letter the editor handed him, and read:--