oor, and must work for ourselves. I have been
writing for my own amusement ever since I was a child, and if it were
possible to make a livelihood in that way I should like it better than
anything else. I would rather live on half the money and do the work I
love."

She looked appealingly at the impassive face, but no approval of her
prospective renunciation was forthcoming. Mr Hammond merely bent his
head in grave assent and remarked:

"Literature is a good crutch, but a very inefficient staff. If you have
no private means, and are seeking for a profession which is to be your
entire support, you would be wiser to go in for millinery. Brain-work
is uncertain, trying, and badly paid. Even at the best an author's
spell of popularity is short-lived in these degenerate days. A new
writer comes along with a fresh trick, and the old friend is promptly
forgotten and despised. For the sake of L.S.D. he is compelled to write
twice as much as he ought to do, and so dooms himself even more
completely. In millinery, I should suppose, experience adds to
capacity, and the demand for bonnets is a happy certainty."

This time it was the editor who smiled and Theo who was unresponsive.
She was deeply offended, and hope had sunk to the lowest ebb. Surely if
Mr Hammond had found any merit in her story he would not have humiliated
her by such a suggestion. She lowered her eyes, and trifled nervously
with her furs.

"Then you think--after reading my story--you think I have no chance?"

"No; I don't say that. That depends entirely upon--"

"Yes?"

Mr Hammond looked at her with a kindly pity. "_Upon how much
heart-breaking you can stand_!" he said solemnly. "The apprenticeship
which you will have to serve is weeks, months--it may be even years--of
steady, persistent, unsuccessful work; weary disappointment after weary
disappointment; nothing to show for your labour but a drawer full of
dog-eared papers which nobody will accept. Realise what it means, and
ask yourself if you have strength to bear it; if you have sufficient
courage and self-confidence to work on undaunted, and find fresh
inspiration in the midst of defeat."

He looked at her gravely, and Theo lifted her head and returned the look
with flashing eyes.

"If I had the prospect of success in the end--yes! a hundred times, yes!
I am not a child. I don't expect to make a name in a day. You can
judge better than I. Is there a chance for me if I work hard? H