he should have asked were there any
children near when he took the cottage. Why should we give up swinging
on the gate? He can take his old books and sit on the Orphan Rock to
write them. No one will disturb him _there_."

"What _are_ you talking about, children?" said Miss Bibby. "Pauline,
answer me properly. I didn't know 'Tenby' was let. Who has taken it?"

"I forget his name," said Pauline; "please pass the bananas. Oh, Lynn,
you've taken all the jam. Will you ring for some more, Miss Bibby?"

Miss Bibby rang absent-mindedly, though she had made the observation
that any one eating bananas and strawberry jam together was actually
inviting an attack of acute indigestion.

"I suppose you have confused the account," she said, and sighed.

But a momentary agitation had shaken her.

She was a woman with one absorbing ambition--to publish a book. She
carried a most pathetic tin trunk about with her--the sepulchre of the
hopes of years. The MS. of at least seven novels lay inside, each neatly
wrapped in paper, and with a faithful docket of its adventures pasted
upon it.

It is enough to examine one of them:--_The Heirs of Tranby Chase._ It
weighed four or five pounds. The publishers would never have had to
grumble at its brevity, or have been compelled to use large type and
wide margins to "bulk up." It was written in the thin, early Victorian
handwriting not often met with in this generation of writers. It
subscribed faithfully to the great canons of publication--for instance,
it was written on "one side only of the paper"; it was pinned together
at the "left-hand top corner"; no publisher had ever found it necessary
to gnash his teeth because it reached him rolled instead of flat.

Yet behold the piteous history!

"_The Heirs of Tranby Chase_, by Katherine J. Howard Bibby, Author of
_The Quest of Guy Warburton_, _Through Darkness to Light_, or _Lady
Felicia's Peril_, etc., etc. Commenced Jan. 1, 1895. Finished March 6,
1896. Copied out (three times) December, 1896. Submitted to Messrs.
Kesteven, Sydney; but they say they are publishing very little at
present, as times are depressed. To James & James, Melbourne; returned.
And unread, I am sure; the package had hardly been touched. To Brown &
McMahon, Melbourne. A most polite note, but they do not care to publish
so long a story. Shortened it, and copied again (July, 1898). Sent again
to Brown & McMahon. A printed refusal: 'Regret cannot use.' December,
1899, post