make as good a play as you have made a book.

"Very truly yours,

"JARVIS JOCELYN."

Bambi chuckled as she read, and patted the part which praised her.
Whatever else had happened, Jarvis's dignity was still intact. He calmly
told the author to keep her hands off her own book! She flew to the
typewriter to answer him.

_"Mr. Jarvis Jocelyn, care of Mr. Charles Frohman, Empire Theatre, New
York._

"MY DEAR MR. JOCELYN: Your letter in regard to the dramatization of my
book, 'Francesca,' seems to demand immediate assurance that you will
have free rein in the work you are to do. Mr. Frohman has told me
something of you and of your work, and I shall be very happy if my story
gives you your first opportunity to succeed as a playwright.

"I am glad you are pleased with my story. Did you know that it was my
first one? Your comment on the character of the musician interested me,
as it is a close portrait of a friend.

"Trusting that we may work together to a successful end, I am

"Sincerely,

"THE AUTHOR.

"P.S. For private reasons I prefer to remain unknown to you. You can
always reach me through Mr. Frohman's office. You must forgive
typed letters."

This she sent to the Frohman office, with a request that it be
forwarded. The next day brought Jarvis's news:

"DEAR BAMBI: For three days I have resisted the constant temptation to
send you word of what seemed to be extraordinarily good news, but many
disappointments have made me a doubting Thomas, so I held off until I
was really sure. To begin at the beginning, I was at the lowest ebb of
disgust with myself last week for my inability to get in step with the
grand march. Only a fool can be excused for failure, and I am not that.
So a summons from the Frohman office somewhat restored my self-respect.
It seems that Mr. Frohman has never forgotten my previous interview, so
when he decided to make a play of a popular novel entitled 'Francesca,'
he immediately thought of me.

"Of course this is not the kind of play I want to do, so I said I would
look over the book and if I liked it I would have a try at it. The long
and the short of it is I have accepted. The woman who wrote the thing
has promised to keep out of it. She seems to be a nice kind of person,
but for some reason wants to make a mystery of herself. Frohman hints at
a domestic tragedy as her reason. I'm sure I do not care about