Mr. Gouger nodded his head slowly.
"That would be something to avoid at all hazards," he assented.
And at this juncture, to the surprise of both the parties to this conversation, the young man of whom they were speaking entered the room.
"I was telling Mr. Gouger of our agreement," said Mr. Weil, as soon as the greetings were over. "How do you get along? Have you discovered your heroine yet?"
Mr. Roseleaf answered, with an air of timidity, in the negative.
"I don't quite know where to find one," he said.
Mr. Weil spread out his arms to their fullest capacity.
"There are thirty millions of them in the United States alone," he exclaimed. "Out of that number you ought to find a few whom you can study. What a pity that I cannot write! I would go out of that door and in ten minutes I would have a subject ready for vivisection."
The younger man raised his eyebrows slightly.