in the kitchen to hear the three or
four essays which it contained.

"What do you think of those for a girl of fourteen? There's a pupil for
you! If she were only a boy! Such dash--such spirit--such a gift of
words! Do you notice her adjectives? Exaggerated, no doubt, and
over-abundant, but so apt, so true, so strong! That child can write:
she has the gift. She ought to turn out an author of no mean rank."

"Oh, dear me! I hope not. I hope she will marry a nice, kind man who
will be good to her, and have too much to do looking after her children
to waste her time writing stories," cried Mrs Asplin, who adored a good
novel when she could get hold of one, but harboured a prejudice against
all women-authors as strong-minded creatures, who lived in lodgings, and
sported short hair, inky fingers, and a pen behind the ear. Mariquita
Saville was surely destined for a happier fate. "When a woman can live
her _own_ romance, why need she trouble her head about inventing
others?"

Her husband looked at her with a quizzical smile.

"Even the happiest life is not all romance, dear. It sometimes seems
unbearably prosaic, and then it is a relief to lose oneself in fiction.
You can't deny that! I seem to have a remembrance of seeing someone I
know seated in a big chair before this very fire devouring a novel and a
Newton pippin together on more Saturday afternoons than I could number."

"Tuts!" said his wife, and blushed a rosy red, which made her look
ridiculously young and pretty. Saturday afternoon was her holiday-time
of the week, and she had not yet outgrown her schoolgirl love of eating
apples as an accompaniment to an interesting book; but how aggravating
to be reminded of her weakness just at this moment of all others! "What
an inconvenient memory you have!" she said complainingly. "Can't a poor
body indulge in a little innocent recreation without having it brought
up against her in argument ever afterwards? And I thought we were
talking about Peggy! What is at the bottom of this excitement? I know
you have some plan in your head."

"I mean to see that she reads good books, and only books that will help,
and not hinder, her progress. The rest will come in time. She must
learn before she can teach, have some experience of her own before she
can imagine the experiences of others; but writing is Peggy's gift, and
she has been put in my charge. I must try to give her the right
training."

From that tim