is always imputed exclusively to women!
Though Eve _was_ the first to taste the apple, Adam had no intention
of being behindhand. I know a man who always manages to get down to
breakfast five minutes before the rest of his family, for the purpose
of examining the correspondence all round.

Fortunately I managed to escape from these inquisitive eyes, for I met
the postman myself when he brought back my first tale. It was returned
with the Editor's "compliments and thanks," coupled with the regret
that he could not make use of my contribution.

I don't know that I ever felt such keen disappointment as when that
tale came back from its first visit. I had hoped so much from it, and
had been so confident of its success. It depressed me for some time,
and it was long before I ventured upon anything in the literary way
again. But habit is second nature, they say, so after that and other
tales had been the round of all the magazines and returned to their
ancestral home, decidedly the worse for their outings (change of air
evidently does not agree with MSS.), they affected me no more than the
receipt of a tradesman's circular. In fact I grew quite to welcome
them as old friends, and no one would have been more astonished than I
had they been converted into L s. d.

Apparently I am not cut out for literary work. I have not sufficient
imagination, nor am I sceptical enough for this fanciful and
scientific age. The world only cares for impossible adventures and
magic stories, or stories which undermine their religion or upset it
altogether, and I am not clever enough for this.

Of course, in my pecuniary need I did not neglect to employ a
"chancellor of the exchequer," as Miss. Mathers calls her; a "wardrobe
keeper," as she terms herself. Indeed, I employed two or three, and so
had plenty of opportunities of observing the type.

These women certainly vary in the way they carry on business, but very
rarely do they vary in appearance. For the fattest, ugliest, oiliest
old creatures to be found anywhere, commend me to a Chancellor! I
pause in astonishment sometimes, and wonder how they have the strength
to carry so much flesh about with them.

The first one I engaged possessed a complexion of a glowing yellow,
like unto the petals of an alamander. She carried on the business in a
too independent way altogether. She would take up my garments, look
them over with a contemptuous sniff (what eloquence there is in a
sniff!), and th