to July, as the companion of an invalid lady, going abroad for health.
The necessity of modulating her pace to the movements of a nervous
invalid involved some discomforts for a person of Miss Alcott's
pedestrian abilities, but who would not accept some discomforts for a
year of European travel? She had a reading knowledge of German and
French, and in the abundant leisure which the long rests of her
invalid friend forced upon her, she learned to speak French with
facility.

On her return from Europe, she found her circumstances much improved.
She had established her position as a regular contributer to the
_Atlantic_ whose editor, she says, "takes all I'll send." In 1868,
she was offered and accepted the editorship of _Merry's Museum_ at a
salary of $500, and, more important, she was asked by Roberts Brothers
to "write a girl's book." Her response to this proposition was "Little
Women," which she calls "the first golden egg of the ugly duckling,
for the copyright made her fortune." Two editions were exhausted in
six weeks and the book was translated into French, German and Dutch.

"Little Men" was written, a chapter a day, in November of the same
year, and "An Old-fashioned Girl," a popular favorite, the year
following. "Hospital Sketches" had not yet outlived its welcome, was
republished, with some additions, in 1869, and two thousand copies
were sold the first week. She is able to say, "Paid up all debts,
thank the Lord, every penny that money can pay,--and now I feel as if
I could die in peace." Besides, she has invested "$1,200 for a rainy
day," and is annoyed because "people come and stare at the Alcotts.
Reporters haunt the place to look at the authoress, who dodges into
the woods."

The severe application which her achievement had cost had impaired
Miss Alcott's fine constitution and, in 1870, taking May, her artist
sister, she made a second trip to Europe, spending the summer in
France and Switzerland and the winter in Rome. A charming account of
the adventures of this expedition is given in "Shawl-Straps." A
pleasant incident of the journey was the receipt of a statement from
her publisher giving her credit for $6,212, and she is able to say
that she has "$10,000 well invested and more coming in all the time,"
and that she thinks "we may venture to enjoy ourselves, after the hard
times we have had."

In 1872, she published "Work: a story of Experience," and it is for
the most part, a story of her own expe