Elizabeth Garver Jordan

“ The reporter hesitated an instant, and then went quickly forward. The face which turned toward her was not the kind of face she expected to see. Newspaper men had been gushing in their descriptions of the famous prisoner, possibly because their imaginations were stimulated by the fact that many of them had never seen her. Helen Brandow was not really beautiful; Miss Herrick was quick to recognize that as the other woman advanced to meet her. ”

“ If anything but the life of a human being had been at stake, how proudly and gladly she would have gone to him, and how hard she would have tried to write the best story of her life, as he had ordered. But—this other woman at her feet. Something within the reporter asserted itself as counsel for her and pleaded and would not down. Ruth Herrick's voice seemed to her to come from a long distance when she at last spoke. ”

“ Every one else has failed. If you are ambitious, here is your chance to distinguish yourself. I will have a boy at the station with letters which may help you. Good-night."
Eighteen hours later she sat in the Fairview prison. It was easy enough to get there. The warden unbent marvellously under the influence of a strong personal letter and Miss Herrick's face. The girl felt quite like a distinguished guest as the stern old fellow spoke of stories of hers which he had read, and newspaper cuts of her which he had seen, "which," he added kindly, "don't look much like you." ”

“ I should think you would be forced to turn your eyes inward occasionally, as a refreshing change from the things which weary you."
"The inner view is no longer pleasant."
Mrs. Brandow's smile, as she spoke, was not particularly pleasant, either. The reporter's thoughts flew suddenly to a certain Mary Bird, who had lost her reason under peculiarly depressing circumstances, which Miss Herrick had been unfortunate enough to witness. Mary had smiled on the newspaper woman once or twice, and the latter, though not imaginative, remembered the smiles too vividly for her own comfort. ”

“ It was said that "The Searchlight's" presiding genius always wore that smile when he was giving a difficult assignment to one of his staff. It spoke of hope and confidence, and, incidentally, of the futility of excuse and objection. The young reporter had seen it before, and now found herself fixing a fascinated but hopeless gaze upon it. Her apprehensions were strengthened by the efforts of a young man with weak eyes and a corrugated brow, who sat in one corner diligently playing on a typewriter. ”

“ The reporter who brought in the story, or the 'tip,' gets some praise, and possibly a check. His position on the newspaper is secure—until he makes his next mistake. Tersely expressed, a 'beat' is a story which only one newspaper gets, and which all the other newspapers wanted. A reporter with the right spirit will move heaven and earth to get it for the journal he represents."
"I 've just prepared a graceful tribute to you," he called out as he caught her eye. "The chief says you 're one of the most reliable members of the staff, can always be depended upon, and all that. ”

“ Brandow has been acquitted," said the managing editor of "The Searchlight" to his secretary, as the news came in two weeks later. "And the whole country is shedding tears of joy over her, and they 're having bonfires to-night up in Fairview. I believe she's guilty; but a pretty woman who can hold her tongue will escape the consequences of almost any crime. Strange how Miss Herrick failed on that case; she felt it, too. Has been working day and night ever since, and all that sort of thing. But, after all, you can't depend on a woman in this business." ”

“ Since then I have known the depths of human misery and degradation. Within a week of my marriage I knew exactly what I had done,—I had tied myself for life to the most consummate scoundrel in existence. ”

“ I have given myself up to the horror of this place, until, as I said, it has almost unnerved me. If I were myself, I should not be sitting here, talking almost confidentially to you—a stranger. Why should the presence and sympathy of another human being affect me, after what I have suffered and endured?"
"You have never been a happy woman?"
The reporter looked thoughtfully at the rose she held in her hand as she spoke, and pulled off its petals, one by one.
"For five years I have been the most miserable woman on earth."
The expression of the prisoner's face had changed. The smile was gone ”

“ If it appears in the other fellow's newspaper, it means that some idiot has accidentally stumbled across a piece of news which does n't amount to much anyway, and which he has garbled painfully in the telling. ”