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By Root 2026 0

out of her, that made him dead. Already she had begun the habit of reasoning with him: But why did you do it? Why did you leave me? Everything would have been all right if you d waited. I d have come back this afternoon. But this time she knew she would not have come back this afternoon, and he had known it, and God help us all but he was right. It was time for him to die. There was nothing for him to do today, there was nothing for him to do today. & There, that was settled. Now let the whole thing begin again. Kitty Hofman s downstairs, said her mother. Do you want to see her?

No, but I will, said Caroline. It was the news room of the Gibbsville Standard. Don t forget, everybody, it s Saturday. We have early closing. First edition goes over at one-ten, so don t go to lunch. Sam Dougherty, the city editor of the Standard, had been saying that every Saturday for more than twenty years. It was as much a part of him as his eyeshade and his corncob pipe and his hemorrhoids. As city editor he also had to read copy and write the Page One headlines. Say, Alice, he said, putting down his pencil and interrupting his reading of a story. What? she said. What do you hear on this English suicide? Any of your people have anything to say on it?

No, she said. Did you ask anybody about it? he said. No, she said. Then: I heard the boss tell you to play down the story.

He shook his head. See? he said. That s your trouble, Alice. A good reporter knows ten times as much as he ever prints. That s the kind of stuff you ought to know. Off the record stuff. The angles, girl. The angles. You oughta always get the angles of every big story, even when you can t print it. You never know when it s going to come in handy, see what I mean?

Harry Reilly went to his hotel to wash up a bit before meeting a man for lunch. There was a message for him, and when he got upstairs he put in a call for Mrs. Gorman at Gibbsville one one one eight, Gibbsville, Pennsylvania. Hello.

Hello.

Hello. Hello, is that you, Harry?

Yes. What can I do for you?

Listen, Harry. Julian English killed himself last night.

He what?

Killed himself. He took some kind of a poison in his garage. Carbon oxide.

You don t mean carbon monoxide?

That s it. It s a poison.

I ll say it s a poison, but he didn’t take it. It comes out of the motor.

Is that it? Well, I didn’t know that. I just knew it was some kind of a poison and he took it in his garage.

When? Who told you?

Last night. Everybody in town knows it by now. I heard it from four or five different people and I didn’t leave the front porch all morning. I went to seven o clock Mass, but otherwise I haven t been

How do they know it s suicide? Who said so? It could happen to anybody. Was he drunk?

Yes.

Well, then, he might of fell asleep or something.

Not at all. He went in the garage and closed the door. He had a bottle of liquor with him, I heard. The way I heard, Caroline was going to leave him. She was at her mother s.

Oh.

That s why I called you, Harry. You didn’t have anything to do with it, did you?

Christ, no!

Well, you know how people are

I know how you are.

Never mind the insults. I m trying to do a favor for you. You know what people are apt to say. They ll say you had something to do with it, because English threw that drink in your face the other night. They ll put two and two together and get five.

What are you talking about?

Are you dumb or what? They ll say he was sore at you because you have a crush on Caroline.

Aw, where s it eatin you, for God s sake, woman. English was in my office yesterday. He came to see me. He was in my office twenty-four hours ago and I talked to him.

What did you talk about?

I didn’t have time to talk much. I was hurrying to catch the train to New York. You’re trying to make trouble where none is. Is that all you wanted to talk about?

Isn’t it enough? You wanted to know about English, didn’t you?

Only so I could go right out and send some flowers right away, that s all. I liked English and he liked me, or otherwise he wouldn’t have borrowed money from me. I know that