m the advertising end, although that was, of course, the most
important. He said we might go ahead and publish "Lady Audley's Secret"
under the title of "The Crimson Cord," as such things had been done
before, but the best thing to do would be to charge Rosa Belle Vincent's
thousand dollars to Profit and Loss and hustle for another
novel--something reliable and not shop-worn.

Perkins had been studying the literature market a little and he advised
me to get something from Indiana this time, so I telegraphed an
advertisement to the Indianapolis papers and two days later we had
ninety-eight historical novels by Indiana authors from which to choose.
Several were of the right length, and we chose one and sent it to Mr.
Gilkowsky with a request that he read it to his sweetheart. She had
never read it before.

We sent a detective to Dillville, Indiana, where the author lived, and
the report we received was most satisfactory.

The author was a sober, industrious young man, just out of the high
school, and bore a first-class reputation for honesty. He had never been
in Virginia, where the scene of his story was laid, and they had no
library in Dillville, and our detective assured us that the young man
was in every way fitted to write a historical novel.

"The Crimson Cord" made an immense success. You can guess how it boomed
when I say that although it was published at a dollar and a half, it was
sold by every department store for fifty-four cents, away below cost,
just like sugar, or Vandeventer's Baby Food, or Q & Z Corsets, or any
other staple. We sold our first edition of five million copies inside of
three months, and got out another edition of two million, and a
specially illustrated holiday edition and an _edition de luxe_, and "The
Crimson Cord" is still selling in paper-covered cheap edition.

With the royalties received from the aftermath and the profit on the
book itself, we made--well, Perkins has a country place at Lakewood, and
I have my cottage at Newport.

[Footnote 1: Copyright, 1904, by Leslie's Magazine.]

THE RHYME OF THE CHIVALROUS SHARK[2]

BY WALLACE IRWIN

Most chivalrous fish of the ocean,
To ladies forbearing and mild,
Though his record be dark, is the man-eating shark
Who will eat neither woman nor child.

He dines upon seamen and skippers,
And tourists his hunger assuage,
And a fresh cabin boy will inspire him with joy
If he's past the mat