'I rejoice to hear it!' said Reardon, fervently.

'You see! you see!' cried Jasper, forgetting all about the infant
in the next room, 'all things come to the man who knows how to
wait. But I'm hanged if I expected a thing of this kind to come
so soon! Why, I'm a man of distinction! My doings have been
noted; the admirable qualities of my style have drawn attention;
I'm looked upon as one of the coming men! Thanks, I confess, in
some measure, to old Barlow; he seems to have amused himself with
cracking me up to all and sundry. That last thing of mine in The
West End has done me a vast amount of good, it seems. And Alfred
Yule himself had noticed that paper in The Wayside. That's how
things work, you know; reputation comes with a burst, just when
you're not looking for anything of the kind.'

'What's the new magazine to be called?' asked Amy.

'Why, they propose The Current. Not bad, in a way; though you
imagine a fellow saying "Have you seen the current Current?" At
all events, the tone is to be up to date, and the articles are to
be short; no padding, merum sal from cover to cover. What do you
think I have undertaken to do, for a start? A paper consisting of
sketches of typical readers of each of the principal daily and
weekly papers. A deuced good idea, you know--my own, of course --
but deucedly hard to carry out. I shall rise to the occasion, see
if I don't. I'll rival Fadge himself in maliciousness--though I
must confess I discovered no particular malice in the fellow's
way of talking. The article shall make a sensation. I'll spend a
whole month on it, and make it a perfect piece of satire.'