bright dreams had vanished a step behind him quicker than his own made him aware that some one was following him and presently a voice called his name it was mr who had put himself to unusual exertion and required some seconds to recover his breath before he could speak further i want you to come over to my hotel and have a little talk with me he said has interested me in you immensely i believe as he says that you have the making of a distinguished author and i want to arrange a plan by which you can carry out his scheme mr stared doubtfully at his companion what scheme he said briefly why of to you that knowledge of the world which will enable you to draw truthful portraits you have the art he says the talent the capacity whatever you choose to call it all you lack is experience given that you would make a reputation second to none what can be than that you should acquire the thing you need without delay the thing i need repeated was my too bold mr laughed delightfully yes he explained what you need is a friend able to interest you to begin with pardon me if i say i may be described by that phrase come to my hotel a little while and let us talk it over it was not an opportunity to be refused in s depressed condition and the two men walked together to the house where mr at that time made his home chapter ii was my tory too bold y well your letter has come said mr as he entered the parlor of his pleasant residence situated about twenty miles from the limits of new york city open it as quick as you can and learn your fate his daughter started from her seat near the window where she had been spending the previous hour in speculations regarding the very that was now placed in her hands she was a handsome girl neither nor with eyes of gray and hair of that color that call red she took the envelope that her father gave her and though she wanted intensely to know the contents she hesitated to open it read it smiled mr let us tear a black whether we have an in our house who is destined to become famous but this remark made miss less willing than before to open the letter in her father s presence she slowly left the room without answering and did not break the seal of her communication till she was in the seclusion of her chamber and it was quite a while even then before she summoned the necessary courage some days previous she had sent a to the great house of the writing had taken up the best of her time for a year she had high hopes that it was destined to lay the foundation of an artistic success her plot was novel not to say startling it was entirely out of the conventional order it would be certain to arouse talk and provoke comment if it got into print and to make sure that it would get into print she had persuaded her father to write a little note which she enclosed with the saying that he would pay a cash if the firm demanded it to them against possible loss with this note in her mind miss had felt little doubt that her story would be accepted and printed she only wondered how warmly they would praise her work it was not enough to have them print it she wanted something to justify her in saying to her father there you see i was not wrong after all in thinking i could have a literary career r at last the was removed and the girl s astonished eyes lit upon this cold dry statement was my story too regret to be obliged to decline with thanks the of miss m and request to be informed what disposition she desires made of the same felt a ringing in her ears her hands grew a dull pain pressed on her forehead she felt a a sinking at the heart was it possible she had read aright rejected in this cruel way without even a reference to her father s offer it was and girl like she burst into a of weeping how could she ever face her father the sacrifices she had made came back to her sacrifices of which she had thought little at the time but which now seemed gigantic there had been nights when she had not gone to bed till three other nights when she had been too full of her subject to sleep and had risen in the small hours to finish some particularly interesting chapter twelve hundred pages there were in all note size in her large round almost masculine hand and this time was all lost she had mistaken her the greatest house in the country had decided against her gradually she dried her eyes it would do no good to weep she read the answer that had come in the mail a dozen times why could not the firm have sent her a reason an excuse that meant something she wanted to know wherein her fault lay it might be possible to correct it perhaps the state of business was to blame the more she thought the more determined she grew to t a black investigate this strange affair and within an hour she had her street clothes and started without saying anything to the rest of the household of her intention for the office of in the city she knew that each large concern had one or more readers on whose judgment they relied in such matters she therefore paused only long enough at the counting room to get directed to mr her knock on the critic s door brought forth a loud come 