He drove away, leaving the youthful diplomatist standing with his bare
feet in the dust. For a minute or two the young gentleman amused himself
by a few light saltatory steps in the road. Then a smile of scornful
superiority, mingled perhaps with a sense of previous slights and
unappreciation, drew back his little upper lip, and brightened his
mottled cheek.

"I'd like ter know," he said, darkly, "what this yer God-forsaken
famerly would do without ME!"


CHAPTER V


It is to be presumed that the editor and Mr. Hamlin mutually kept to
their tacit agreement to respect the impersonality of the poetess,
for during the next three months the subject was seldom alluded to
by either. Yet in that period White Violet had sent two other
contributions, and on each occasion Mr. Hamlin had insisted upon
increasing the honorarium to the amount of his former gift. In vain the
editor pointed out the danger of this form of munificence; Mr. Hamlin
retorted by saying that if he refused he would appeal to the proprietor,
who certainly would not object to taking the credit of this liberality.
"As to the risks," concluded Jack, sententiously, "I'll take them; and
as far as you're concerned, you certainly get the worth of your money."

Indeed, if popularity was an indiction, this had become suddenly true.
For the poetess's third contribution, without changing its strong
local color and individuality, had been an unexpected outburst of human