k about him.
Don't you see, I don't want to be bothered?"

While these great events were taking place Philip was enjoying all the
tremors and delights of expectation which attend callow authorship.
He did not expect much, he said to himself, but deep down in his heart
there was that sweet hope, which fortunately always attends young
writers, that his would be an exceptional experience in the shoal of
candidates for fame, and he was secretly preparing himself not to be
surprised if he should "awake one morning and find himself famous."

The first response was from Celia. She wrote warm-heartedly. She wrote
at length, analyzing the characters, recalling the striking scenes,
and praising without stint the conception and the working out of
the character of the heroine. She pointed out the little faults of
construction and of language, and then minimized them in comparison with
the noble motive and the unity and beauty of the whole. She told Philip
that she was proud of him, and then insisted that, when his biography,
life, and letters was published, it would appear, she hoped, that his
dear friend had just a little to do with inspiring him. It was exactly
the sort of letter an author likes to receive, critical, perfectly
impartial, and with entire understanding of his purpose. All the author
wants is to be understood.

The letter from Alice was quite of another sort, a little shy in
speaking of the story, but full of affection. "Perhaps, dear Phil," she
wrote, "I ought not to tell you how much I like it, how it quite makes
me blush in its revelation of the secrets of a New England girl's heart.
I read it through fast, and then I read it again slowly. It seemed
better even the second time. I do think, Phil, it is a dear little book.
Patience says she hopes it will not become common; it is too fine to be
nosed about by the ordinary. I suppose you had to make it pathetic. Dear
me! that is just the truth of it. Forgive me for writing so freely.
I hope it will not be long before we see you. To think it is done by
little Phil!"

The most eagerly expected acknowledgment was, however, a disappointment.
Philip knew Mrs. Mavick too well by this time to expect a letter from
her daughter, but there might have been a line. But Mrs. Mavick wrote
herself. Her daughter, she said, had asked her to acknowledge the
receipt of his very charming story. When he had so many friends it was
very thoughtful in him to remember the acquaintances o