coincidences, solves the mystery; and there am I, with another
month's work done."

She looked at him with interest.

"Are you the author of Gridley Quayle?"

"Don't tell me you read him!"

"I do not read him! But he is published by the same firm that
publishes Home Gossip, and I can't help seeing his cover
sometimes while I am waiting in the waiting room to see the
editress."

Ashe felt like one who meets a boyhood's chum on a desert island.
Here was a real bond between them.

"Does the Mammoth publish you, too? Why, we are comrades in
misfortune--fellow serfs! We should be friends. Shall we be
friends?"

"I should be delighted."

"Shall we shake hands, sit down, and talk about ourselves a
little?"

"But I am keeping you from your work."

"An errand of mercy."