is my card by the way you will of course arrange it so that we shall not be interrupted during our conference it anything of that kind to have people coming in and out we want to be entirely alone so as to give our full attention to the work in hand miss saying that it was exactly what she would wish and do you think there may be hope for it yet that poor little manuscript she asked as she stood by the door ready to take her departure that is a question i can hardly answer he replied i shall be better able to tell you in a week or two i trust she lingered with her hand on the door my father is willing to take all the financial risks she said that ought to make a difference don t you think so it would with many houses he admitted i am glad to know these things thursday then miss miss he wanted to call her for he had read the name on the he still held in his hand but on the whole he concluded that this would be a little premature chapter iii her feet were pink when miss entered the office of as detailed in the preceding chapter it will be remembered that she found that gentleman and his friend with their hats in their hands the fact was that mr had but just entered the room and that mr had accepted an invitation to take lunch with him an arrangement that was by no means an one between them the entrance of miss and t he subsequent proceedings compelled the literary critic to go out alone as has been seen when he returned he found mr still there haven t you been to lunch yet exclaimed mr i have not been out of this office was the reply and all appetite for anything to eat has left me that is one of the most interesting girls i ever met mr up his lips and uttered an impatient he then remarked that mr had a habit of finding such a quality in the latest women of his acquaintance what does she amount to he asked an overgrown who did not half learn her lessons read that she left here and get in short order why she doesn t a black even know how to spell and her periods and are in a hopeless his companion eyed him are periods and even a correct of the english language the only things you can see in a bright handsome girl he demanded for shame you are up old your senses are a lively wind will come in at the some day and blow you out of that chimney mr heaved a sigh as if to say that discussion with such a fellow was useless and took his seat at his desk where an unfinished pile of awaited his reading she s given me leave to take her story home said mr with a mischievous expression the critic stared at his friend given it to you he repeated how did that happen i asked her for it naturally you were so severe on the poor child that i couldn t help putting in a cheering word we talked of the whole business and she was willing i should see if my opinion agreed with yours your opinion echoed what is that worth but take the stuff if you want it and when you are done send it to her it will make less rubbish in this confounded hole one thing i ll tell you though in advance you ll never be able to make sense of it unless you get some one to it out that s all right replied the other after i feet pink have read it through i am going to miss s house where she will read it to me mr started from his chair you don t mean that he exclaimed but i do she asked me and i m going i understand that it s a rather bold tale and i can conceive nothing more entertaining than to hear that kind of thing from the red lips of such a pretty piece of flesh and blood as has just left here there was an uneasy expression on the face of the critic as he heard these words he liked although they were as different in their natures as two men could well be he wanted to please him but the aspect of this affair was not agreeable look here he said earnestly there are some things that i can t permit you know my office must not be made a starting place for one of your lawless adventures you met miss here now i protest against your going to her house pretending that you are interested in that novel when your real purpose is of a much more questionable kind mr put on the air of one whose feelings are by an unjust suspicion my dear he began that s all right growled the critic i may or may not be your dear but i know you like like a book he added by accident on a very you are an old dog that is not likely to learn new tricks i shall send this back to miss myself a letter warning her to have nothing to do with you a buck a laugh escaped the lips of at this proposition if you knew the feminine mind half as well as you do modern literature he answered you would see how little that would avail i have met miss and made a distinctly favorable impression her address is in my pocket and i have received a pressing invitation to call if you choose to send the by another messenger you will relieve me of the task of carrying a bundle but you will accomplish nothing more mr s mouth opened in 