rial facility, the sense of
all-sufficiency, exclusiveness and even a kind of petty trade grandeur
with which he tried to surround himself.

Well, that might not have proved fatal either, only L---- needed some one
to keep him true to himself, his individual capabilities, to constantly
caution and if possible sober him to his very severe taste, and as it
was he was all but surrounded by acolytes and servitors.

A little later, having left M----'s and assumed another editorial
position, and being compelled to follow the various current magazines
more or less professionally, I was disturbed to note that there began to
appear in various publications--especially M----'s, which was
flourishing greatly for the moment--stories which while exhibiting much
of the deftness and repression as well as an avidity for the true color
of things, still showed what I had at first feared they might: a decided
compromise. That curse of all American fiction, the necessarily happy
ending, had been impressed on him--by whom? To my sincere
dissatisfaction, he began writing stories, some at least, which
concerned (1), a young woman who successfully abandoned art dreams for
advertising; (2), a middle-aged charmer, female, who attempted
_libertinage_ and was defeated, American style; (3), a Christmas picture
with sweetness and light reigning on every hand (Dickens at his
sentimentalest could have done no worse); (4), a Broadway press agent
who, attempting to bring patronage to a great hotel via chic vice,
accidentally and unintentionally mates an all-too-good young society man
turned hotel manager to a grand heiress. And so on and so on, not ad
infinitum but for a period at least--the ten years in which he managed
to live and work.

And, what was more, during this new period I heard and occasionally saw
discouraging things in connection with him from time to time. True to
his great promise, for I sincerely think M---- had a genuine fondness
for his young protege, as much of a fondness as he could well have for
anything, he guaranteed him perhaps as much as three thousand a year;
sent him to Stockholm at the age of twenty-four or -five to meet and
greet the famous false pole discoverer, Doctor Cook; allowed him to go
to Paris in connection with various articles; to Rome; sent him into the
middle and far West; to Broadway for dramatic and social studies. Well
and good, only he wanted always in what was done for him the "uplift"
note, the happy en