e associate editor, and his
standards----"

"You _know_ Mr. Bennett?" interrupted Sheila. And her tone was
reverent.

"Yes," said Charlotte carelessly. "I know a lot of writing folks in
New York. In fact I've brought one of them home with me--Alice North,
the novelist. Maybe you've read something of hers?"

"_Something_? Why, I've read everything of hers I could lay my hands
on! Oh, Charlotte, I _adore_ her!"

"So do I," laughed Charlotte, "not her books, but her. She writes very
well, but she's more interesting than her stories. Now, Sheila, I'll
tell you what you must do--you must let me have some of your things to
show her! She could be such a help to you if she found you worth the
trouble. Let me have a story or two now, and come up to-morrow
afternoon to tea--and to hear what she thinks of them."

Sheila caught her breath. "Oh, it's too presumptuous," she demurred,
shyly. "For _me_ to bother _Alice North_!"

Her eyes were shining, nevertheless, as if at sight of a long-promised
land, and Charlotte presently departed with a couple of manuscripts for
the touchstone of Mrs. North's criticism.

When Ted came home that evening, he found a Sheila tremulous with
excitement, her eyes shining still, her cheeks, which were usually
pale, flushed to a vivid rose.

"Oh, Ted," she exclaimed at once, "Charlotte is back!"

"Yes," he assented good-naturedly, "I heard about it this morning and
gave her a write-up with a picture." For Ted invariably looked upon
events in the terms of their newspaper value.

"Did you know that she brought Alice North home with her?"

"Alice North?"

Apparently he had not the slightest idea who Alice North might be.

"Yes--Alice North--the novelist, Ted!"

"Is she anybody special--anything of a celebrity?"

"Is she? Oh, Ted, you must read something besides newspapers! Mrs.
North hasn't been made a celebrity by the papers--somehow she's managed
to keep clear of cheap notoriety--but there's scarcely a woman writing
to-day whose work is better than hers. She is
really--_really_--distinguished!"

Instantly he was "on the job," as he would have expressed it, at that
revelation: "Well, she won't keep out of the 'Star'! I'll have a story
about her to-morrow. Confound it! I wish I'd known to-day! But the
Davises never let me know anything. I found out by accident that
Charlotte was home. And such a time as I had getting her photograph.
I don't believe that family care