The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-10-08
Hn 0 YOU MEAN to say, Countess,
that

torily attended to through Mr.. Poopen-
DYKE" she said. "He consulted me be-
fore definitely engaging any one, Mr..
Smart, and l referred him to my law
yers in Vienna. l do hope Hawkins and
Blatchford and Henri, the chef, are
quite satisfactory to you. They were
recently employed by some one in the
British embassy at"
"Pray rest easy, Countess" I man
aged to say, interrupting out of con-
sideration for Hawkes. and Blatchford,
who, / thought, might feel uneomfort.
able at hearing themselves discussed so
impersonally. Everything is most sat
isfactory. / did not realize that | had
you to thank for my present mental
and astronomical comfort. You have
surrounded ne with diadems."
Hawkes. and blatchford very gravely
and in unison said: "Thank you, sir. !"
"And now let US talk about some
thing else," she said complacently, as
if the project of getting the rest of her
family into the castle were already off
her mind. ~ cam tell you how much
] enjoyed your last book, Mr.. Smart.
1t is so exciting. Why do you call it
'The Fairest of the Fair 'f''
"Because my publisher insisted on
substituting that title for the one !
had chosen myself. III admit that it
doesn't fit the story, my dear Coun-
tess, but what is an author to do when
his publisher announces that he has
q beautiful head of girl he wants
to put on the cover and that the title
must fit the cover, so to speakio
"But l don t consider it beautiful
head, Mr.. Smart. A very flashy blonde
with all the earmarks of having posed
in the chorus between the days when
she posed for your artist. And your
heroine has very dark hair in the book.
Why did they make her blonde on the
covert"
"Because they didn It happen to have
anything but blonde pictures in stock" "
said I, cheerfully. ga little thing like
that doesn't matter, when it comes to
literature, my dear Countess. 1t isn't
the hair that counts 1t the hat. ;"
"But ] should think it would con
fuse the reader,' she insisted. "The
last picture in the book has her with
inky black hair, while in all the others
she is quite blonde" F."
"a really intelligent reader doesn t
have to be told that the artist changed
his model before he got to the last pic
ture," said !, and l am quite conf
dent she didn' It hear me CRATE my teeth.
"But the critics must have noticed
the error and commented upon it..
"My dear Countess, the critics never
sec the last picture in book They
are much too clever for that.
She pondered. ~ suppose they must
get horribly sick of all the books they
have to read"
"And they never have chance to1
experience the delicious period of con-
valescence that persons with less
chronic Affections have to look for
ward to-" said I, very gently. "They
90 from one disease to another, poor
chaps"
81 once knew an author at Newport
who said he hated every critic on
earth,'' she said.
81 should think he might" said ],
without hesitation. 1t was not until
the next afternoon that she got the full
significance CT the remark
As l never encourage any one who
seeks to discuss my stories with me,
being modest chap with flaw in
my vanity, she abandoned the subject
after a few Intellectual attempts to
find out how I get my plots, how l
write my books, and how keep from
losing my mind.
"Would you be entertained by real
mysterys" she asked, leaning toward
me with gleam of excitement in her
eyes. Very promptly said I should
be. We were having our coffee.
uoukoe and Rlatehford had left the