"
As he ended Howard looked uneasily at the old editor, expecting to see that
caustic smile with which he preceded and accompanied his sarcasms at
"sentimental bosh." But instead, Malcolm's face was melancholy; and his
voice was sad and weary as he answered the young man who was just starting
where he had started so many years ago:
"No doubt you are right. I'm not intending to try to dissuade you
from--from the best there is in you. All I mean is that caution,
self-examination, self-doubt, calm consideration of the other side--these
are as necessary to success as energy and resolute action. All I suggest is
that its splendour does not redeem a splendid folly. Its folly remains its
essential characteristic."
Three weeks later Howard became editor-in-chief of the _News-Record_.
His salary was fifteen thousand a year; and Stokely and Coulter, acting
upon Malcolm's advice, gave him a "free hand" for one year. They agreed not
to interfere during that time unless the circulation or the profits showed
a decrease at the end of a quarter.
The next morning Howard, in the Madison Avenue car on his way to the
office, read among the "Incidents in Society:"
Mrs. George Alexander Provost and her niece, Miss Marion Trevor, sailed in
the _Campania_ yesterday.
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