st majority must, therefore, be disappointed. Now,
your story--shall I be frank?"

"By all means," answered Miss Fern.

"Your story, though written with spirit and power, needs a great deal of
revision from a--from a rhetorical standpoint. It is, in fact,
carelessly put together. That is a cardinal fault in a literary
production, and one for which no amount of talent, or even of genius,
can compensate."

The girl listened with deep interest. She tried to think where the
blemishes alluded to could be, for she had read the story twenty times.
To say nothing of several girl friends, who had listened with evident
wonder and delight, to various parts of the tale, as it progressed.

"If that is true," answered Miss Fern, slowly--, "could not the trouble
be remedied by sending the MSS. to some very competent person and having
the errors made right?"

Mr. Gouger smiled.

"Hardly," he said. "A novel is like a painting. The _ensemble_--do you
understand?--is the thing. Can you conceive a painting being 'done
over'? Your book would lose its quality if subjected to that process."

A look of discouragement crossed the features of the young woman.

"Of course, you know best," she stammered. "What would you advise
me--try again?"

Mr. Gouger raised both his hands.

"It is difficult to say, in such a case," he replied. "But--if you want
my best opinion--"

"That is just what I want," said the girl, with ill-concealed
impatience.

"You are not dependent upon your exertions, I suppose, for a living?"

Millicent shook her head, almost sorry at the moment that she could not
reply in the affirmative.

"Then--I should give up the idea of being an authoress."

This was very unpalatable medicine, and the critic realized it as he
looked at the sombre face before him.

"Is your rejection of my story based at all," asked Miss Fern, after a
pause, "on the--boldness of its subject?"

Mr. Gouger smiled again.

"We publish the works of Hall Caine and George Moore," he said. "I
should not consider your story overbold, if there was nothing else
against it. It is a wonder to me, and always will be, why such young
girls as you choose _risque_ themes, but if the work is well done the
public will pay for it."

There was a slight blush on Miss Fern's face, partly at the insinuation
and partly at the adverse criticism that had crept thoughtlessly into
the sentence.

"For my part," she explained, "I wanted to write something that wo