settled. We think of bringing
out the book as soon as possible, without waiting for the spring
season; it will go to press at once and we will send you the proofs as
soon as we get them in.'

'There's one thing, perhaps, I'd better mention,' said Mark suddenly;
after he had turned to go a new danger had occurred to him, 'the
handwriting of the manuscript is not mine. I--I thought it as well to
tell you that beforehand; it might lead to mistakes. I had it copied
out for me by--by a friend.'

Mr. Fladgate burst out laughing. 'Pardon me,' he said, when he had
finished, 'but really I couldn't help it, you do seem to have been so
bent on hoodwinking us.'

'And yet you have found me out, you see,' said Mark, with a very
unmirthful smile.

Mr. Fladgate smiled, too, making a little gesture of his hand,
thinking very possibly that few precautions could be proof against his
sagacity, and they parted.

Mark went down the stairs and through the clerks' room into the
street, with a dazed and rather awestruck feeling upon him. He hardly
realised the treachery he had been guilty of, the temptation had burst
upon him so suddenly, his fall had been made so easy for him, that he
scarcely felt his dishonour, nor was he likely to feel it very keenly
so long as only good results should flow from it. But he was vaguely
conscious that he was not the same Mark Ashburn who had parted from
old Shelford not an hour ago in the street there; he was a man with a
new hope in his breast, and it might be a new fear, but the hope was
near and bright, the fear shadowy and remote as yet: he had only to
keep his own counsel and be patient for a while, and the course of
events would assuredly bring him the stake he had played so high for.

At home that evening he took down his manuscript novels (which of
course he had _not_ burnt) and read them again carefully. Yes; there
was power in them, he felt it, a copious flow of words, sparkling wit,
and melting pathos. The white heat at which the lines were written
surprised even himself. It was humiliating to think that without the
subterfuge that had been forced upon him he might have found it
impossible to find publishers who would appreciate these merits, for
after Messrs. Leadbitter & Gandy's refusal he had recognised this to
the full; but now, at least, they were insured against any such fate.
A careful reading was absolutely necessary to a proper estimation of
them, and a careful reading they had ne