lling to pay you
almost anything within reason, if you care to state your terms.

'Of course, the most discussed article of all is "The Island of
Darkness," in which you accuse Britain of contributing so largely
towards bringing about the present war. The German-American
organisations and the strong Irish section here were especially
jubilant, and every one concedes that it has awakened a great deal of
resentment against Britain that had been forgotten since the beginning
of the war. Even your detractors admit that "The Island of Darkness"
will live as a literary classic.

'Your first ten articles have been made into book form under the title
_America's War_, and are selling most satisfactorily. The first
edition has gone into 40,000 copies. The attached clipping from the
_New York Express_ is fairly typical of the reception given the book by
the pro-Entente press.

'Your September statement will go forward to-morrow with cheque
covering foreign rights, royalties, &c.--I am, Mr. Selwyn, yours very
truly,

S. T. LYONS.'

With hardly more than a merely casual interest, Selwyn glanced at the
clipping attached to the letter. It was from the editorial page of the
_Express_.

'THE MENACE OF SELWYN.

'In 1912 Austin Selwyn was known as a younger member of New York's
writing fraternity. He had done one or two good things and several
mediocre ones, but promised to reach the doubtful altitude of
best-sellership without difficulty. To-day Selwyn is the mouthpiece of
neutrality. He has preached it in a language that will not permit of
indifference. He has succeeded in surrounding his doubtful idealism
with a vigour that commands attention, even if not respect. Right in
the heart of London he is turning out insidious propaganda which is
being seized upon by every neutral American who has his own reasons for
wanting us to keep out of war. It would be absurd to say that one
man's writing could in itself sway a great nation, but nevertheless it
is a vehicle which is being used to the limit by every pro-German
agency in this free land.

'Truly we are a strange people. We have a President who deliberately
cuts his political throat with a phrase, "too proud to fight;" but
because we think Wilson is a greater man than he himself knows, we sew
up the cut and send him back for another term. In the same way,
although every red-blooded American has in his heart been at war with
Germany since the _Lusitania_, we per