New Grub Street

ht; it was two miles away, but the strokes were borne very distinctly on the west wind th

ng hanged in Londo

to let us know that,' sai

ne, too!' protest

Milvain, looking at her

ay that someone was to be hanged at Newgate this morning. There

h way of looking at

be as little profitable to others as to myself. It just happened that I saw the thing in a light of consolation. Things are bad with me, but not so bad as THAT. I might be going out between Jack Ketch and the Chaplain to be hanged; instead of that, I am ea

arly black, and a clean-shaven face, best described, perhaps, as of bureaucratic type. The clothes he wore were of expensive ma

eatures, and very beautiful hair of russet tinge; hers was not a face that readily smiled. Their mother had the look and manners of an invalid, though she sat at table in the ordinary way. All were

hat he has brought society to its last resource. He is a man of such fatal importance that noth

repeated Mau

suggested Dora, who seemed to fear a

for Mrs Milvain, a letter and newspaper for her son. Whilst the girls and their mother talked of u

l. 'Things are going badly with him. He is just the ki

t w

and begins to be sore trou

he i

ness. In favourable circumstances he might write a fairly good book once every two or three years. The failure of his last dep

e anticipates it!' murmured

such large demands upon fortune. One must be more modest - as I am. Because one book had a sort of success he imagined his struggles were over. He got a hundred pounds for "On Neutral Ground," and at once counted on a continuance of payments in geometrical pro

of person to grumble

I rather wonder he didn't start a carriage for her. Well, his next book brought only another hundred, and now,

ave them some m

before he advanced sixpence, or I'm much mistaken in him. Her mother has only just enough to

ardon no r

tal thing. A man in his position, if he marry at all, must take either

Dora. 'You never cease talking

kes to be called an "artist," and so on. He might possibly earn a hundred and fifty a year if his mind were at rest, and that would be enough if he h

d Maud, 'that you e

only because my intellect enjoys the clear perception of

s Milvain, in her half-absent way. 'I s

t of the

nvited them to com

aud, 'THAT'S impossibl

effort, dear. A holiday mi

'd get along very well with Mrs Reardon; and then, if her un

hose people would only stay a

those two lots of people?' asked Dora.

hinks it's no b

er the letter f

Reardon is still alive, I shall

rose to Maud's li

orce, your successful man of letters is your skilful tradesman. He thinks first and foremost of the markets; when one kind of goods begins to go off slackly, he is ready with something new and appetising. He knows perfectly all the possible sources of income. Whatever he has to sell he'll get payment for it from all sorts of various quarters; none of your unpractical selling for a lump sum to a middleman who will make six distinct profits. Now, look you: if I had been in Reardon's place, I'd have made fou

ignoble,'

line won't be novels; I have failed in that direction, I'm not cut out for the work. It's a pity, of course; there's a

you stated the exact su

ve a decent income of my own, I shall marry a woman with an i

laimed,

ns got a lot of money at Mr Yule's death -

brother and sister will have the first helping, I suppose. And then, if it comes to the second generation, the literary Yule has a da

eaned back and began to unfold the

kind at the time of his marriage,

no! Would he were capa

e room. When the servant came to clear the t

are-towered building. As it was cattle-market to-day in the town of Wattleborough, droves of beasts and sheep occasionally went

e children had nothing of their own. Maud acted irregularly as a teacher of music; Dora had an engagement as visiting governess in a Wattleborough family. Twice a year, as a rule, Jasper came down from London to spend a fo

h he set off to roam in the sunshine. Shortly after he had left the house, Maud, her domestic d

the mother, when Maud had sat

t. I hope you told him

o say,' returned Mrs Milvain

me, that's all. There's no money

sullen determination. T

he to do

er people do? What

enough for your

irl. 'Of course, if you grud

far from grudging you anything, dear. But I only me

needs. We are sacrificed to him, as we always have been. Wh

l it idleness, Maud. He i

seems to work hard all through the year! It's disgusting, mother. At this rate he will never earn his own living. Who hasn't seen or heard of such men? If we had another hundr

r one. Mrs Milvain furtively

id at length, 'when another year may gi

t does he mean by

ways comes, if a ma

hing were to happen to you, what becomes of Dora and me? And what becomes of Jasper, too? It's t

e thirty pounds already this year, and he only made about twenty-five the whole of last. We must be fair to hi

ingers, a disagreeable h

't he live more

ive on less than a hundred and f

st place in

ense,

ut such things. He might live very well indeed on thirt

to live like that. He is obliged to go to places wh

ently, 'it's very lucky for him that he's got a mot

reak out. You don't care

simple

r speaks l

's afraid to

can't bear to talk to you, Maud. The older I get, and

s, then Maud flung out of the room. An hour later, at dinner-time, she was rather more cau

he breakfast-tab

inced you could make money if you tried. There's a tremendous sale fo

do it yourself,

of Sunday-school prize-books; you know the kind of thing I mean. They sell like hot cakes. And there's so

abandon your

sharp enough girl. You can q

I to take up an in

ot, begin at the earliest opportunity. I

oints of such composition; hit upon new attractions; then go to work methodically, so many pages a day. There's no question of the divine afflatus; that belongs to another sphere of life. We talk of literature as a trade, not of Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare. If I could only get that into poor Reardon's head. He think

med pre

uce novels out-trashing the trashiest that ever sold fifty thousand copies. But it needs skill, mind you: and to deny it is a gross error of the literary pedants. To please the vulgar you must, one way or another, incarnate the genius of vulgarity. For my own part, I shan't be able to address the bulkiest multitude; my t

hit the mark; it wasn't too flashy, it wasn't too

terances. None the less, half an hour after dinner, Jasper found himself encountered

r shall you look to mother for support? I mean it litera

away and

was his reply, 'let u

favourite "ten

I shall begin to pay my debts. My dear girl, I have the honour

mother were to die

ke shift to

ase - what of

ite Sunday-sc

d away and

most part he wore a thoughtful smile. Now and then he stroked his smoothly-shaven jaws with thumb and fingers. Occasionally he became observant of wayside details - o

ey felt hat with a broad brim and a decent suit of broadcloth. With him was a girl of perhaps two-and-twenty, in a slate-coloured dress with very little ornament, and a yellow straw hat of the shape originally appropriated to males; her dark hair was cut short, and lay i

lked a few yards, he looked back; at the sam

n them - him and the girl t

e the recollection he sou

Reading-room