"Oh no, it isn't meant for acting."

"What's the good of it then?"

"It's written in verse. I shall perhaps try to get it published."

"Shall you get money for it?"

"That is scarcely likely. In all probability I shall not be able to
get it printed at all."

"Then what's the good of it?" repeated Harriet, still suspicious,
and a little contemptuous.

"It has given me pleasure, that's all."

Julian was glad when at length he could take his leave. Waymark
received him with a pleased smile, and much questioning.

"Why did you keep it such a secret? I shall try my hand at a play
some day or other, but, as you can guess, the material will scarcely
be sought in Gibbon. It will be desperately modern, and possibly not
altogether in accordance with the views of the Lord Chamberlain.
What's the time? Four o'clock. We'll have a cup of coffee and then
fall to. I'm eager to hear your 'deep-chested music,' your 'hollow
oes and aes.'"

The reading took some three hours; Waymark smoked a vast number of
pipes the while, and was silent till the close. Then he got up from