"I wasn't fitted for the law."

"Oh, literature? Does literature pay?"

"Not in itself, not for many," and Philip forced a laugh. "But it led to
a situation in a first-rate publishing house--an apprenticeship that
has now given me a position that seems to be permanent, with prospects
beyond, and a very fair salary. It would not seem much to you, Mr.
Mavick," and Philip tried to laugh again.

"I don't know," replied Mr. Mavick. "If a fellow has any sort of salary
these times, I should advise him to hold on to it. By-the-way, Mr.
Burnett, Hunt's a Republican, isn't he?"

"He was," replied Philip, "the last I knew."

"Do you happen to know whether he knows Bilbrick, the present
Collector?"

"Mr. Bilbrick used to be a client of his."

"Just so. I think I'll see Hunt. A salary isn't a bad thing for a--for a
man who has retired pretty much from business. But you were saying, Mr.
Burnett?"

"I was going to say, Mr. Mavick, that there was a little something
more than my salary that I can count on pretty regularly now from the
magazines, and I have had another story, a novel, accepted, and--you
won't think me vain--the publisher says it will go; if it doesn't have a
big sale he will--"

"Make it up to you?"

"Not exactly," and Philip laughed; "he will be greatly mistaken."

"I suppose it is a kind of lottery, like most things. The publishers
have to take risks. The only harm I wish them is that they were
compelled to read all the stuff they try to make us read. Ah, well. Mr.
Burnett, I hope you have made a hit. It is pretty much the same thing
in our business. The publisher bulls his own book and bears the other
fellow's. Is it a New York story?"

"Partly; things come to a focus here, you know."

"I could give you points. It's a devil of a place. I guess the novelists
are too near to see the romance of it. When I was in Rome I amused
myself by diving into the mediaeval records. Steel and poison were the
weapons then. We have a different method now, but it comes to the
same thing, and we say we are more civilized. I think our way is more
devilishly dramatic than the old brute fashion. Yes, I could give you
points."

"I should be greatly obliged," said Philip, seeing the way to bring
the conversation back to its starting point; "your wide experience of
life--if you had leisure at home some time."

"Oh," replied Mavick, with more good-humor in his laugh than he had
shown before, "you needn't beat about the bush