and he said that some of the railroad men were really beginning to enjoy the way Billy pitched into them; he said he had started life pretty humbly himself; he said that he wanted some way of reaching his men just now, and he thought that the ‘Protest’ was the way to do it.  He said that it was good as far as it went, but that it didn’t go far enough.  He proposed to work its circulation up into hundreds of thousands, to buy it at Billy’s figure, and to pay him a handsome salary,—­six thousand was hinted, I believe,—­as editor, under a five-year contract!  Billy asked if the policy of the paper was to be dictated, and he said, no, no, everything left to him!  Billy came home dazed, my dear, and I confess I was dazed too.  Mr. Wallace had said that he wanted Billy, as a sort of side-issue, to live in San Rafael, so that they could see each other easily,—­and I wish you could see the house he’d let us have for almost nothing!  Then there would be a splendid round sum for the paper, thirty or forty thousand probably, and the salary!  I saw myself a lady, Nance, with a ‘rising young man’ for a husband—–­ "

“But, Sue—­but, Sue,” Anna said eagerly, “Billy would be editor—­ Billy would be in charge—­there would be a contract—­nobody could call that selling the paper, or changing the policy of the ’Protest’—–­”

“Exactly what I said!” laughed Susan.  “However, the next morning we rushed over to the Cudahys—­you remember that magnificent old person you and Conrad met here?  That’s Clem.  And his wife is quite as wonderful as he is.  And Clem of course tore our little dream to rags—–­”

“Oh, how?” Anna exclaimed regretfully.

“Oh, in every way.  He made it betrayal, and selling the birthright.  Billy saw it at once.  As Clem said, where would Billy be the minute they questioned an article of his, or gave him something for insertion, or cut his proof?  And how would the thing sound—­a railroad magnate owning the ’Protest’?”

“He might do more good that way than in any other,” mourned Anna rebelliously, “and my goodness, Sue, isn’t his first duty to you and the children?”

“Bill said that selling the ‘Protest’ would make his whole life a joke,” Susan said.  “And now I see it, too.  Of course I wept and wailed, at the time, but I love greatness, Nance, and I truly believe Billy is great!” She laughed at the artless admission.  “Well, you think Conrad is great,” finished Susan, defending herself.

“Yes, sometimes I wish he wasn’t—­yet,” Anna said, sighing.  “I never cooked a meal for him, or had to mend his shirts!” she added with a rueful laugh.  “But, Sue, shall you be content to have Billy slave as he is slaving now,” she presently went on, “right on into middle-age?”