her opening. You write shorthand, don't you?'

'A little, dear; only ninety words a minute.'

'_That's_ not business. Advertise yourself, _a la_ Cyrus Hitchcock! Say
boldly, "I write shorthand." Leave the world to ask, "How fast?" It will
ask it quick enough without your suggesting it. Well, my idea is this.
Florence is a town teeming with English tourists of the cultivated
classes--men of letters, painters, antiquaries, art-critics. I suppose
even art-critics may be classed as cultivated. Such people are sure to
need literary aid. We exist, to supply it. We will set up the Florentine
School of Stenography and Typewriting. We'll buy a couple of
typewriters.'

'How can we pay for them, Brownie?'

[Illustration: THERE'S ENTERPRISE FOR YOU!]

I gazed at her in despair. 'Elsie,' I cried, clapping my hand to my
head, 'you are not practical. Did I ever suggest we should pay for them?
I said merely, buy them. Base is the slave that pays. That's
Shakespeare. And we all know Shakespeare is the mirror of nature. Argal,
it would be unnatural to pay for a typewriter. We will hire a room in
Florence (on tick, of course), and begin operations. Clients will flock
in; and we tide over the winter. _There's_ enterprise for you!' And I
struck an attitude.

Elsie's face looked her doubts. I walked across to Mrs. Evelegh's desk,
and began writing a letter. It occurred to me that Mr. Hitchcock, who
was a man of business, might be able to help a woman of business in this
delicate matter. I put the point to him fairly and squarely, without
circumlocution; we were going to start an English typewriting office in
Florence; what was the ordinary way for people to become possessed of a
typewriting machine, without the odious and mercenary preliminary of
paying for it? The answer came back with commendable promptitude.

DEAR MISS,--Your spirit of enterprise is really remarkable! I have
forwarded your letter to my friends of the Spread Eagle
Typewriting and Phonograph Company, Limited, of New York City,
informing them of your desire to open an agency for the sale of
their machines in Florence, Italy, and giving them my estimate of
your business capacities. I have advised their London house to
present you with two complimentary machines for your own use and
your partner's, and also to supply a number of others for disposal
in the city of Florence. If you would further like to undertake an
agenc