ore reckless I became. 'That's bright,' he said at
last, when I told him the tale of our amateur exploits in the sale of
Manitous. 'That would make a good article!'

'Yes,' I answered, with bravado, determined to strike while the iron
was hot. 'What the _Daily Telephone_ lacks is just one enlivening touch
of feminine brightness.'

He smiled. 'What is your forte?' he inquired.

'My forte,' I answered, 'is--to go where I choose, and write what I like
about it.'

He smiled again. 'And a very good new departure in journalism, too! A
roving commission! Have you ever tried your hand at writing?'

Had I ever tried! It was the ambition of my life to see myself in print;
though, hitherto, it had been ineffectual. 'I have written a few
sketches,' I answered, with becoming modesty. As a matter of fact, our
office bulged with my unpublished manuscripts.

'Could you let me see them?' he asked.

I assented, with inner joy, but outer reluctance. 'If you wish it,' I
murmured; 'but--you must be _very_ lenient!'

[Illustration: HE READ THEM, CRUEL MAN, BEFORE MY VERY EYES.]

Though I had not told Elsie, the truth of the matter was, I had just
then conceived an idea for a novel--my _magnum opus_--the setting of
which compelled Egyptian local colour; and I was therefore dying to get
to Egypt, if chance so willed it. I submitted a few of my picked
manuscripts accordingly to Mr. Elworthy, in fear and trembling. He read
them, cruel man, before my very eyes; I sat and waited, twiddling my
thumbs, demure but apprehensive.

When he had finished, he laid them down.

'Racy!' he said. 'Racy! You're quite right, Miss Cayley. That's just
what we want on the _Daily Telephone_. I should like to print these
three,' selecting them out, 'at our usual rate of pay per thousand.'

'You are very kind.' But the room reeled with me.

'Not at all. I am a man of business. And these are good copy. Now, about
this Egypt. I will put the matter in the shape of a business
proposition. Will you undertake, if I pay your passage, and your
friend's, with all travelling expenses, to let me have three descriptive
articles a week, on Cairo, the Nile, Syria, and India, running to about
two thousand words apiece, at three guineas a thousand?'

My breath came and went. It was positive opulence. The super with the
goose couldn't approach it for patness. My editor had brought me the
apple sauce as well, without even giving me the trouble of cooking it.

The very