he
came around to the office and asked for the copy. I produced it, and
he picked up a pen and wrote his name across the top of the page.
This, of course, meant that he assumed the responsibility for
the production. I retained this copy until a few years ago, when,
unhappily, it was destroyed. My recollection is that the 'Lost
Townships' letters were set up by Mr. Francis himself. Mr. Lincoln was
a frequent contributor to the 'Journal,' and it usually fell to my lot
to set up his contributions."--_J. McCan Davis._]

[Footnote 2: Interview with Mr. Edward Levis made for this Magazine.]

"PHROSO."

A TALE OF BRAVE DEEDS AND PERILOUS VENTURES.

BY ANTHONY HOPE, AUTHOR OF "THE PRISONER OF ZENDA," ETC.

CHAPTER I.

A LONG THING ENDING IN POULOS.

_Quot homines, tot sententiae_; so many men, so many fancies. My fancy
was for an island. Perhaps boyhood's glamour hung still round sea-girt
rocks, and "faery lands forlorn" still beckoned me; perhaps I felt
that London was too full, the Highlands rather fuller, the Swiss
mountains most insufferably crowded of them all. "Money can buy
company," and it can buy retirement. The latter service I asked now of
the moderate wealth with which my poor cousin Tom's death had endowed
me. Everybody was good enough to suppose that I rejoiced at Tom's
death, whereas I was particularly sorry for it, and was not consoled
even by the prospects of the island. My friends understood this wish
for an island as little as they appreciated my feelings about poor
Tom. Beatrice was most emphatic in declaring that "a horrid little
island" had no charms for her, and that she would never set foot
in it. This declaration was rather annoying, because I had imagined
myself spending my honeymoon with Beatrice on the island; but life is
not all honeymoon, and I decided to have the island none the less.
In the first place, I was not to be married for a year. Mrs. Kennett
Hipgrave had insisted on this delay in order that we might be sure
that we knew our own hearts. And as I may say without unfairness
that Mrs. Hipgrave was to a considerable degree responsible for the
engagement--she asserted the fact herself with much pride--I thought
that she had a right to some voice in the date of the marriage.
Moreover, the postponement gave me exactly time to go over and settle
affairs in the island.

For I had bought it. It cost me seven thousand five hundred and fifty
pounds--rather a fancy price, but I cou