e paper had been removed
or not. To my great delight the paper was in its place; with a beating
heart I entered, there was nobody in the shop; as I stood at the counter,
however, deliberating whether or not I should call out, the door of what
seemed to be a back-parlour opened, and out came a well-dressed lady-like
female, of about thirty, with a good-looking and intelligent countenance.
'What is your business, young man?' said she to me, after I had made her
a polite bow. 'I wish to speak to the gentleman of the house,' said I.
'My husband is not within at present,' she replied; 'what is your
business?' 'I have merely brought something to show him,' said I, 'but I
will call again.' 'If you are the young gentleman who has been here
before,' said the lady, 'with poems and ballads, as, indeed, I know you
are,' she added, smiling, 'for I have seen you through the glass door, I
am afraid it will be useless; that is,' she added with another smile, 'if
you bring us nothing else.' 'I have not brought you poems and ballads,
now,' said I, 'but something widely different; I saw your advertisement
for a tale or a novel, and have written something which I think will
suit; and here it is,' I added, showing the roll of paper which I held in
my hand. 'Well,' said the bookseller's wife, 'you may leave it, though I
cannot promise you much chance of its being accepted. My husband has
already had several offered to him; however, you may leave it; give it
me. Are you afraid to intrust it to me?' she demanded somewhat hastily,
observing that I hesitated. 'Excuse me,' said I, 'but it is all I have
to depend upon in the world; I am chiefly apprehensive that it will not
be read.' 'On that point I can reassure you,' said the good lady,
smiling, and there was now something sweet in her smile. 'I give you my
word that it shall be read; come again to-morrow morning at eleven, when,
if not approved, it shall be returned to you.'

I returned to my lodging, and forthwith betook myself to bed,
notwithstanding the earliness of the hour. I felt tolerably tranquil; I
had now cast my last stake, and was prepared to abide by the result.
Whatever that result might be, I could have nothing to reproach myself
with; I had strained all the energies which nature had given me in order
to rescue myself from the difficulties which surrounded me. I presently
sank into a sleep, which endured during the remainder of the day, and the
whole of the succeeding