"That I shall not tell you to-day. In fact, I shall not breathe a word
to any one. It will take you all by surprise--and the public by storm."

"So it will be playable?"

"If I am not very much mistaken, you will see it on Broadway within a
year. And," he added graciously, "I will let you have two box-seats for
the first night."

They both chuckled at the thought, and their hearts leaped within them.

"I hope you will finish it soon," Jack observed after a while. "You
haven't done much of late."

"A similar reflection was on my mind when you came yesterday. That
accounts for the low spirits in which you found me."

"Ah, indeed," Jack replied, measuring Ernest with a look of wonder. "But
now your face is aglow. It seems that the blood rushes to your head
swifter at the call of an idea than at the kiss of a girl."

"Thank God!" Ernest remarked with a sigh of relief. "Mighty forces
within me are fashioning the limpid thought. Passion may grip us by the
throat momentarily; upon our backs we may feel the lashes of desire and
bathe our souls in flames of many hues; but the joy of activity is the
ultimate passion."