Some time elapsed before an answer was returned. . . .


[_To Messrs. Smith and Elder_]

"AUGUST 2nd, 1847.

"Gentlemen--About three weeks since I sent for your consideration a MS.
entitled 'The Professor, a Tale by Currer Bell.' I should be glad to
know whether it reached your hands safely, and likewise to learn, at
your earliest convenience, whether it be such as you can undertake to
publish. I am, gentlemen, yours respectfully,

"CURRER BELL.

"I enclose a directed cover for your reply."


This time her note met with a prompt answer; for, four days later, she
writes (in reply to the letter she afterward characterized in the
Preface to the second edition of "Wuthering Heights," as containing a
refusal so delicate, reasonable, and courteous as to be more cheering
than some acceptances):


"Your objection to the want of varied interest in the tale is, I am
aware, not without grounds; yet it appears to me that it might be
published without serious risk, if its appearance were speedily
followed up by another work from the same pen, of a more striking and
exciting character. The first work might serve as an introduction, and