OR a time things went very badly. My luck was right out. A point was reached when I doubted if I could continue to afford four shillings a week for the quite invaluable services of Minnie Saxe. I was determined that this should be almost the last of my economies. I was quite willing to economise on food and firing, and—yes, even on dress. But I did not want to make my own bed any more. I had to get the more sordid part of the work of living done for me. Naturally I was not anxious that Minnie Saxe should discover the badness of my luck and the lowness of my exchequer. She accepted without comment my statement that I found tea and bread-and-butter the best breakfast if one were going to work in the morning. She said nothing when I found it was more hygienic to work in a cold room. When she came in unexpectedly one night and caught me in the very act of dining on tea and bread-and-butter she became extremely bad-tempered and was rather rude. Next morning she informed me that her cousin at Yarmouth had sent them a present of a box of kippers, and her father had taken the liberty of asking if I would accept six with his best thanks for all my kindness to her. I went into my own room to cry, and then came back and had a kipper for breakfast They were remarkably good kippers, fat and well-liking.
An exclusive diet of tea and bread-and-butter would perhaps be good for many people, but it does not act as a stimulus to the imagination. The editors at this time sent my work back with commendable promptitude, but I did get one little story placed in Tomlinson's Magazine, which I had considered to be altogether too high for me and had only attempted in desperation. I had a mutton chop for dinner the night I received my cheque, and this gross feeding, acting on an already enfeebled constitution, as they say in the obituaries, led me to believe that I could write just the kind of serial that Tomlinson's Magazine would like. I planned it all out that night. Next morning I took a 'bus to the City to see the editor of Tomlinson's Magazine and tell him all about my idea.
He consented to see me. He seemed to be a very young man and very tired, and had the fingers of a confirmed cigarette smoker. An older and a fatter man was standing by his side when I was shown in, and was handing him some proof-sheets for inspection.
“Cut out 'A Mother's Prayer,' and fill up with small jokes. Otherwise all right.” The fat man went out and the editor turned to me. I began to tell him my business.
“About a serial story!” he said. “All right, send it in and we'll read it.” He rose from his chair and glanced at a large, framed notice on the wall. The notice said:
I followed the glance and looked back at him. “So I can,” I said, “and I don't want to waste my time over a long story unless ] know that it has, at any rate, a chance.”
“Certainly,” he said. “Quite natural. The first few chapters and a synopsis will be enough.” He was opening the door and shaking hands with me. The fat man was in the passage outside, and he called to him that after all he would let that Mother's Prayer stand. Some people liked a bit of sentimental verse now and then.
I got on a 'bus to go home and felt incompetent and hopeless. I rode on the top, and in front of me sat a well-dressed man, making pencil notes. In Piccadilly he got up, and as he passed me I noticed that he had a strong face, full of character. A moment later I noticed that he had left his pocket-book behind him. I picked it up and dashed after him.
“Pardon,” I said, as I handed the book to him, “but you left this on the 'bus.” He took off his hat and looked at me keenly, with deep-set, blazing eyes. “Thank you,” he said. “My house is quite near, in the square here. I should like to speak to you of this, if you can spare a few minutes.”
“I don't want a reward,” I said bluntly, “and I don't see what there is to say.”
“I never dreamed of offering you a reward.” He grinned pleasantly. “You really insult me in supposing that I could have made the blunder. But you have done me a very great service, and I wish you to understand how great it is. I shall wish very probably to speak to you on quite a different matter. We cannot talk here. Come, my name is Wentworth Holding, and only respectable people live in Berkeley-square.”
“Very well,” I said. “My time, unfortunately, is not valuable. I will come. I know your name, of course. In fact, I once met an agent of yours, a Dr. Morning.”
He looked at me sharply. “Were you the honest medium?” he said.
“I was.”