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 very grave decision. "I beg you—I beg you"—his voice shook—"to keep us out of this."

"Bah—you old woman!"

Scarcely had the words been uttered, when Saul Hartz was troubled to perceive the look of horror in the eyes of his lieutenant. "Forgive me, Gage!" It was almost the air of a schoolboy. "You're not thinking of yourself, I know that of course, but you must, you simply must, trust the man at the wheel, as you always have trusted him, eh?"

For both, the silence that followed was full of pain. And of a sudden it was ended by half audible words. "I offer my resignation not because I want to, not because I ought to, but because a power not myself" Unable to complete a sentence that grew more lame as it went on, the editor of the Planet lurched awkwardly out of the room.