"Isn't it a little soon?" asked the sub-editor.

"Nah," said Josh Salter, genial editor of the scandal sheet 'Aquila Awake!' "Folks love a good retrospective. It's educational. It's history."

"It's been six weeks," said the sub-editor a little dubiously.

"It's in the past, ain't it?" said Josh Salter. "A special Remember the Coup edition. Cut out and keep for the kiddies."

This was a favourite ploy of Josh Salter's. His sub-editor sometimes had a vision of the attics of the poor quarters of Aquila , stacked high with bundles of newsprint, their floors groaning under the weight.

"Anyway, you didn't complain when we did our three months from the great tornado edition," he went on.

"Actually," murmured the sub-editor, "I did ..."

"And that was a terrific edition," its writer went on, ignoring the note of dissent. "That engraving of the young Anderons, Lord Anderon walking down from the funerary pyre, his unconscious sister clasped in his arms ... great stuff, great stuff. In fact, we'll use it again in the coup edition. Shame to waste an engaving like that. And brave Little Lady Wren played her part, by God she did."

He looked with pleasure at the mock up on the desk in front of him.

"'Where were you on the night of the coup?'" he read with simple pride. "That's very nearly poetry. They'll all say they were in the Great Square , listening to Lord Anderon make his great speech ... full text on page 5. And not a dry eye in the house ... "

"'cept for those what were in the Nest, winning through to the roof top with brave Little Lady Wren. And those folks from the kitchen too."

He clapped his sub-editor on the shoulder.

"It'll be a best seller for sure," he said. "Our best since the Commemorative issue for the Duchess Nira. Four months since her dismissal, and nearly as long since her tragic, untimely and mysterious death. Ah, yes. That was a great issue. Her picture could always double the circulation figures ... But they forget, they forget. The wedding issue will be a sellout - and so will the Coronation. And then it will be Lady Lilli that will be doubling our figures ... not to mention her own ... "

"She must be six months along now, by my calculations. Shame we had no luck bribing the dress makers for her measurements. Ah well ... we can always etch a few extra lines on the engraving. How are those ducal wedding mugs coming along, by the way?"

He looked down again at the mock up.

"And we've got the whole thing," he said happily. "All the inside stuff. 'Through the Nest with Brave Little Lady Wren'. 'My Romance with the Mysterious Masked Man'. 'How I stared death in the face on the rooftop'. All thanks to that lovely girl, Bella Oswestry."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The original of Josh Salter (another newspaper editor) of course had a tougher time from his proprietor ....

Mr. Salter's side of the conversation was limited to expressions of assent. When Lord Copper was right he said, "Definitely, Lord Copper"; when he was wrong, "Up to a point." "Let me see, what's the name of the place I mean? Capital of Japan ? Yokohama , isn't it?" "Up to a point, Lord Copper." "And Hong Kong belongs to us, doesn't it?" "Definitely, Lord Copper."

Evelyn Waugh - Scoop