it. I've
set my mind on that."

"I'm sure I hope you will, though for my part you must not expect me to
look through it. I like things to be pretty, and when you see them
through a microscope they generally look hideous. I saw my own hand
once--ugh!" Peggy shuddered. "Twenty pounds! Well, I can only say
that my whole worldly wealth is at your disposal. Draw on me for
anything you like--up to seven-and-six! That's all the money I have
till the beginning of the month."

"Thanks!--I didn't intend to borrow; I have a better idea than that. I
was reading a magazine the other day, and came upon a list of prize
competitions. The first prize offered was thirty pounds, and I'm going
to win that prize! The microscope costs only twenty pounds, but the
extra ten would come in usefully for--I'll tell you about that later on!
The _Piccadilly Magazine_ is very respectable and all that sort of
thing; but the governor is one of the good, old-fashioned, conservative
fellows, who would be horrified if he saw my name figuring in it. I'm
bound to consider his feelings, but all the same I'm going to win that
prize. It says in the rules--I've read them through carefully--that you
can ask your friends to help you, so that there would be nothing unfair
about going into partnership with someone else. What I was going to
suggest was that you and I should collaborate. I'd rather work with you
than with any of the others, and I think we could manage it rather well
between us. Our contribution should be sent in in your name; that is to
say, if you wouldn't object to seeing yourself in print."

"I should love it. I'm proud of my name; and it would be a new
sensation." But Peggy spoke in absent-minded fashion, as if her
thoughts were running on another subject. Rob had used a word which was
unfamiliar in her ears, a big word, a word with a delightful
intellectual roll, and she had not the remotest idea of its meaning.
Collaborate! Beautiful! Not for worlds would she confess her
ignorance, yet the opportunity could not be thrown away. She must
secure the treasure, and add it to her mental store. She put her head
on one side, and said pensively--

"I shall be most happy to er--er--In what other words can I express
`collaborate,' Rob? I object to repetition?"

"Go shags!" returned Robert briefly. "I would do the biggest part of
the work, of course--that's only fair, because I want two-thirds of the
money--but you could do w