"No, not manuscript according to the common acceptation of the term; and yet, in reality, I suppose it is."
"Can you not leave it with me? I will look at it with pleasure later;" but his tone was not very encouraging.
"I should prefer not to do so, because there is not very much time between now and Christmas, and if you do not approve of it I shall like to take it elsewhere," Virgie replied, untying the dainty ribbon which bound her package, and, removing the wrapper, she laid before him a little book about eight inches square and comprising some twenty or thirty pages.
It was composed of half sheets of the heaviest and nicest of unruled paper, tied together in three places with beautiful little cords and tassels of pale-blue silk.
On the cover, in a lovely design composed of mountain ferns, most exquisitely executed, there was written, in a dainty hand, the title—"Gleanings from the Heights."
The gentleman uttered a low exclamation of pleasure as his eye fell upon this.
His attention was riveted; there was no indifference in his manner now.
Chapter XXIII.
A Mysterious Stranger.
"Did you do this?" Mr. Knight, the publisher, asked, looking up after a close examination of the dainty cover.
"Yes, sir," Virgie answered, with a quiet smile, and, seeing that she had gained her point, that he would not leave it until he had seen the whole, she sat down near him to await his verdict.