that you may
struggle with John and Phyllis up the first, heart-breaking, storm-swept
steeps.

We are back in their pretty rooms now. Are you there? Very well, then;
we proceed.

They had lived at Mrs. Farquharson's for a fortnight. John worked
steadily at his desk; Phyllis sewed. Poetry reads very smoothly on a
printed page; but Phyllis had not realized that ten satisfying lines is
a fair morning's stint; nor that a little book of synonyms is first aid
in emergency cases; nor that one may talk as much as one pleases at
times, but must be quiet as a mouse when the pen is scratching away so
busily; she had to learn that when John's eyes were full of anguish he
was probably at his best.

"Phyllis," said John, one morning, looking up from his writing.

"Yes, dear."

"That's all--just Phyllis," he replied, smiling.

She beamed at him over her embroidery. The pen resumed its slow
progress. Phyllis rocked happily. When the pen paused again, she watched
his face. It welcomed speech, so--

"What word from the publishers?" asked Phyllis.

"They will have none of it," replied John. "They all tell me the verses
have merit; they all regret the public taste; but--in short, business is
business."

Phyllis bit her thread in two. John continued

"If I could get the first little book out,--and reviewed in the papers
that count,--I have enough verses for a second, to follow at once, and
catch the favoring breeze;--but if there is no first, how can there be a
second?"

Phyllis shook her head. The idiosyncrasies of the publishing trade were
beyond her comprehension. How they could refuse such beautiful--Well!

"I had a proposal from Kendall, Ransome & Company yesterday afternoon
that I meant to have told you about--only Miss Neville's and Mark
Holroyd's coming to spend the evening knocked it out of my head."

"Wasn't it dear of them! Didn't Peggy look sweet in that blue gown? What
was the proposal, John? Any proposal is encouraging isn't it?" asked
Phyllis.

"I suppose so," John answered, running his hand through his hair. "But
this one couldn't be accepted under the circumstances They offered to
publish the book if I would pay the cost of printing and relinquish
copyright."

"The idea!" exclaimed Phyllis.

"I laughed at it myself," replied John. "I had another reason for
laughing than the one they knew, though. For, really, I am so sure of my
little book that I might have accepted the offer--if I had the money."

"