“Was that flattery I heard as I came in?”

“Well, no, I lost myself a little. You know my failing. But this little matter of the negatives has gotten on my nerves, and you have got to get busy and secure that picture at any cost. I count on you, Barnes. Find out the trick.”

“I do not believe it is a trick, Mr. Carter,” Barnes said slowly.

“Not a trick? What—”

“I must say also that I cannot do what you ask. I believe with all my soul that Jesus has actually come to earth again. I do not believe I have any right to exploit his person in the paper. If, for his own good reasons, he chooses to defend himself from the impertinence of the press, I will not be impertinent.”

“Impertinence!” Carter’s voice cut across Barnes’s sentence with rough insistence. “What have you been doing all your life but getting photographs of famous people, whether they liked it or not? It is our business. It is all in the day’s work.”

“It is not in my day’s work anymore, Mr. Carter.”

“What’s the matter with you?”

“I told you, Mr. Carter, I have become a Christian. I am his disciple.”

Carter suppressed an oath. “Do you mean to say, Barnes, that you actually believe this person is Jesus Christ, the same person who was here nineteen hundred years ago?”

“Yes. I believe it with all my soul.”

“You never mentioned your soul before. I never heard of it all these years. Barnes, do you really believe such a stupendous thing could happen?”

“It has happened.”

“Barnes, you are a fool!” Barnes made no reply. “You’re a fool!”

“I’m willing to be one.”

“But I don’t know that I’m willing to have one on the Gazette. One of us will have to go off the payroll.”

“I’m ready to go any time.”

“Oh, look here, Barnes. You can’t really believe such an absurdity. It would be a miracle.”

“It is a miracle.”

“Miracles? In this age? There aren’t any.”

“Why not? What has the age got to do with it?”

Carter exploded. “You’re a fool!”

“You’ve said that three times, but it doesn’t make me one.”

Carter struck his desk with his fist. “This person you believe is Jesus is a faker. I will make it my business to expose him.”

“And yet, with all your boasted progress and science, you can’t even get his picture.”

“Barnes, if he is really Jesus as you say, why did he not prove it the other day by bringing to life Mrs. Page’s little girl? Didn’t you hear that they begged him to do that and he refused?”

“I don’t know why. But I don’t rest my faith on any mighty works he may do.”

“You don’t? Then what do you rest it on?”

“On himself. I believe in him.”

Carter was walking up and down the room. He stopped, looked at Barnes sharply, then suddenly put his hand on his shoulder and said frankly, “Barnes, old man, you’ve been on the Gazette a long time. How many years is it?”