r, who could write I forget how many
hundred words a minute; and when I told her there were no minutes in
which I could dictate as many words as that, even if I wanted to, and
that there would be many minutes in which I should not dictate any words
at all, she said she was afraid that if she fell into a dilly-dally,
poky way of working it would impair her skill, and it might be
difficult, when she left my employment, to regain her previous
expertness. She was quite willing, however, to engage with me, and
thought that if I would try to dictate as fast as possible I might, in
time, be able to keep her nearly up to her normal standard.

A third one was willing to write longhand, and to work as slowly and as
irregularly as I pleased. I gave her a short trial, but her writing was
so illegible that I could not discover whether or not she made mistakes
in spelling. I had, however, my suspicions on this point.

The fourth applicant I engaged to come for a week on trial. She
exhibited no prominent disabilities, and I thought she might be made to
answer my purpose; but as she possessed no prominent capabilities, and
as she asked me to repeat almost every sentence which I dictated to her,
I found it very tiresome to work with her, and I punished Walkirk by
making him act as my under-study on the third and fourth days of her
engagement. I requested him to dictate to her some detailed incidents of
travel which I had told him, and which I was sure he remembered very
well. He undertook the task with alacrity, but after two mornings' work
he advised me to discharge her. Dictating to her, he said, was like
talking into a tin spout with nobody at the other end. Somebody might
come if you shouted long enough, but this was tiresome.

VIII.

THE MALARIAL ADJUNCT.

The fifth applicant on Walkirk's list had a morning to herself. So soon
as she entered my study I hoped that she would suit me, and I had not
talked with her ten minutes before I decided that she would. Her
personality was exceedingly agreeable; she was neither too young nor too
old. She expressed herself with a good-humored frankness which I liked,
and appeared to be of a very practical turn of mind. She was a practiced
stenographer, was accustomed to write from dictation and to read aloud,
could correct proof, and had some admirable references. Her abilities
appeared so excellent, and her demeanor was so agreeable to me, that I
engaged her.

"I am very happy inde