I boldly complained of my poverty, inasmuch as it deterred me from my work.
"I have now proven my case," I wrote him,—"my poems have appeared in the Century, in Everybody's, in Munsey's....
"I have acted, as well, as a professional in a first-rate play, by a great European dramatist ... giving Kansas the distinction of being the first to produce Iistral on the American stage....
"Now I want to finish my four-act play on Judas. To do so I must have enough to eat and a place to sleep, without being made to worry about it, for a year....
"Can't you help me to a millionaire?"
Mackworth answered me generously, affectionately.
In two weeks he had procured my millionaire ... Derek, of Chicago, the bathtub magnate ... how much could I get on with?
I wrote that I could do with seven dollars a week....
Mackworth replied not to be a fool—that Derek was willing to make it fifteen, for a year's duration....
I replied that I could only take enough to fill my simplest wants....