led telegram I still held in my hand, and she reached to
take it.

"What is that, dear?" she asked.

Breaking away from her, I walked to the fireplace and tossed the offer
of the presidency of the South Midland and Atlantic Railroad into the
grate. It caught slowly, and I stood there while it flamed up, and then
crumbled with curled fiery ends among the ashes. When it was quite gone,
I turned and came back to her.

"Only a bit of waste paper," I answered.

Mr. JAMES LANE ALLEN'S NOVELS

The Choir Invisible

"One reads the story for the story's sake, and then re-reads the
book out of pure delight in its beauty. The story is American to
the very core.... Mr. Allen stands to-day in the front rank of
American novelists. _The Choir Invisible_ will solidify a
reputation already established and bring into clear light his rare
gifts as an artist. For this latest story is as genuine a work of
art as has come from an American hand."--Hamilton Mabie in _The
Outlook_.

The Reign of Law. A Tale of the Kentucky Hempfields

"Mr. Allen has a style as original and almost as perfectly finished
as Hawthorne's, and he has also Hawthorne's fondness for spiritual
suggestion that makes all his stories rich in the qualities that
are lacking in so many novels of the period.... If read in the
right way, it cannot fail to add to one's spiritual
possessions."--_San Francisco Chronicle._

The Mettle of the Pasture

"It may be that _The Mettle of the Pasture_ will live and become a
part of our literature; it certainly will live far beyond the
allotted term of present-day fiction. Our principal concern is that
it is a notable novel, that it ranks high in the range of American
and English fiction, and that it is worth the reading, the
re-reading, and the continuous appreciation of those who care for
modern literature at its best."--By E. F. E. in the _Boston
Transcript_.

Summer in Arcady. A Tale of Nature

"This story by James Lane Allen is one of the gems of the season.
It is artistic in its setting, realistic and true to nature and
life in its descriptions, dramatic, pathetic, tragic, in its
incidents; indeed, a veritable masterpiece that must become
classic. It is difficult to give an outline of the story; it is one
of the stories which do not outline; it must be read."--_Boston