strange man accosted him one morning on the Common as "Mr. Wentworth,"
and then dashed madly down the nearest foot-path and disappeared in the
crowd.

The fact is, I had been duped by Mr. H------, who is a gentleman
of literary proclivities, and has, it is whispered, become somewhat
demented in brooding over the Great American Novel--not yet hatched, He
had actually tried the effect of one of his chapters on me!

My hero, as I subsequently learned, is a commonplace young person, who
had some connection, I know not what, with the building of that graceful
granite bridge which spans the crooked silver lake in the Public Garden.

When I think of the readiness with which Mr. H------ built up his airy
fabric on my credulity, I feel half inclined to laugh, though I am
deeply mortified at having been the unresisting victim of his Black Art.

End of Project Gutenberg's A Struggle For Life, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STRUGGLE FOR LIFE ***

***** This file should be named 23356.txt or 23356.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/3/5/23356/

Produced by David Widger

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.

*** START: FULL LICENSE ***

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gu