Except my attorney, a
month ago, when you were threatening to repudiate the contract you
signed with me."
"I suppose I'm expected to take your word for that?"
"Yes, you are. Unless you care to call me a liar in so many words." He
moved a step closer. Lloyd Whitburn outweighed him by fifty pounds,
but most of the difference was fat. Whitburn must have realized that,
too.
"No, no; if you say you haven't talked about it to the _Valley Times_,
that's enough," he said hastily. "But somebody did. A reporter was
here not twenty minutes ago; he refused to say who had given him the
story, but he wanted to question me about it."
"What did you tell him?"
"I refused to make any statement whatever. I also called Colonel
Tighlman, the owner of the paper, and asked him, very reasonably, to
suppress the story. I thought that my own position and the importance
of Blanley College to this town entitled me to that much
consideration." Whitburn's face became almost purple. "He ... he
laughed at me!"
"Newspaper people don't like to be told to kill stories. Not even by
college presidents. That's only made things worse. Personally, I don't
relish the prospect of having this publicized, any more than you do.
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