Yet _The Eagle_ wanted to cover it.

It so happened that Edward had made another appointment for that evening which he considered more important, and yet not wishing to disappoint his editor he accepted the assignment.
He had seen Miss Coghlan in the play; so he kept his other engagement, and without approaching the theatre he wrote a notice to the effect that Miss Coghlan acted her part, if anything, with greater power than on her previous Brooklyn visit, and so forth, and handed it in to his city editor the next morning on his way to business.
Unfortunately, however, Miss Coghlan had been taken ill just before the raising of the curtain, and, there being no understudy, no performance had been given and the audience dismissed.

All this was duly commented upon by the New York morning newspapers.

Edward read this bit of news on the ferry-boat, but his notice was in the hands of the city editor.
On reaching home that evening he found a summons from _The Eagle_, and the next morning he received a rebuke, and was informed that his chances with the paper were over.

The ready acknowledgment and evident regret of the crestfallen boy, however, appealed to the editor, and before the end of the week he called the boy to him and promised him another chance, provided the lesson had sunk in.