new now how greatly he had misjudged the man, who had spoken with
such an innocent, amiable pride in his own surprising discernment; he
also felt how easy and how safe it would be to take advantage of this
misunderstanding, and what a new future it might open to him--but he
was struggling still against the temptation so unconsciously held out
to him.

'I might retort that, I think. Now, be reasonable, Mr. Ashburn. I
assure you the writer, whoever he may be, has no cause to be ashamed
of the book--the time will come when he will probably be willing
enough to own it. Still, if he wishes to keep his real name secret, I
tell him, through you, that he may surely be content to trust that to
us. We have kept such secrets before--not very long, to be sure, as a
general rule; but then that was because the authors usually relieved
us from the trouble--the veil was never lifted by us.'

'I think you said,' began Mark, as if thinking aloud, 'that other
works by--by the same author would be sure of acceptance?'

'I should be very glad to have an opportunity, in time, of producing
another book by Mr. Vincent Beauchamp--but Mr. Beauchamp, as you
explained, is unhappily no more. Perhaps these are earlier manuscripts
of his?'

Mark had been seized with the desire of making one more attempt, in
spite of his promise to his uncle, to launch those unhappy paper ships
of his--'Sweet Bells Jangled' and 'One Fair Daughter.' For an instant
it occurred to him that he might answer this last question in the
affirmative; he had little doubt that if he did his books would meet
with a very different reception from that of Messrs. Leadbitter and
Gandy; still, that would only benefit Holroyd--not himself, and then
he recollected, only just in time, that the difference in handwriting
(which was very considerable) would betray him. He looked confused and
said nothing.

Mr. Fladgate's patience began to tire. 'We don't seem to be making any
way, do we?' he said, with rather affected pleasantry. 'I'm afraid I
must ask you to come to a decision on this without any more delay.
Here is the manuscript you sent us. If the real author is dead we are
compelled to return it with much regret. If you can tell me anything
which does away with the difficulty, this is the time to tell it. Of
course you will do exactly as you please, but after what you have
chosen to tell us we can hardly see our way, as I said, to treat with
you without some further explanation. C