t of misery in my cup; but it is a fact that Eliza is
literally pining away for me as Smith, and--as Smith I find it impossible
to be even civil to her; while Edith, poor girl, has been foolish enough
to set her heart on me as Smythe, and as Smythe she seems to me but the
skin of a woman stuffed with the husks of learning, and rags torn from
the corpse of wit.'

"I remained absorbed in my own thoughts for some time, and did not come
out of them till we were crossing the Minories. Then, the idea suddenly
occurring to me, I said:

"'Why don't you get a new girl altogether? There must be medium girls
that both Smith and Smythe could like, and that would put up with both of
you.'

"'No more girls for this child,' he answered 'they're more trouble than
they're worth. Those yer want yer carn't get, and those yer can 'ave,
yer don't want.'

"I started, and looked up at him. He was slouching along with his hands
in his pockets, and a vacuous look in his face.

"A sudden repulsion seized me. 'I must go now,' I said, stopping. 'I'd
no idea I had come so far.'

"He seemed as glad to be rid of me as I to be rid of him. 'Oh, must
yer,' he said, holding out his hand. 'Well, so long.'

"We shook hands carelessly. He disappeared in the crowd, and that is the
last I have ever seen of him."

* * * * *

"Is that a true story?" asked Jephson.

"Well, I've altered the names and dates," said MacShaughnassy; "but the
main facts you can rely upon."

CHAPTER X

The final question discussed at our last meeting been: What shall our
hero be? MacShaughnassy had suggested an author, with a critic for the
villain. My idea was a stockbroker, with an undercurrent of romance in
his nature. Said Jephson, who has a practical mind: "The question is not
what we like, but what the female novel-reader likes."

"That is so," agreed MacShaughnassy. "I propose that we collect feminine
opinion upon this point. I will write to my aunt and obtain from her the
old lady's view. You," he said, turning to me, "can put the case to your
wife, and get the young lady's ideal. Let Brown write to his sister at
Newnham, and find out whom the intellectual maiden favours, while Jephson
can learn from Miss Medbury what is most attractive to the common-sensed
girl."

This plan we had adopted, and the result was now under consideration.
MacShaughnassy opened the proceedings by reading his aunt's letter. Wrote
the old lady:

"I think