'Shall I leave you for the present? My offer is always open—on the condition of secrecy—one is bound to keep business transactions secret. I will leave you now. There is no hurry. Think it over carefully and send me an answer.'
He went out and shut the door. The young dramatist, I am ashamed to say, fell to tears and weeping over the destruction of his hopes.
'Effie,' said Mr. Feilding, 'I have talked with your brother. He has read some of the play to me——'
'And you think?' she asked him eagerly.
He shook his head mournfully. 'The boy has much to learn—very much. Meantime, the play itself is worthless—quite worthless.'
'Oh! Poor boy! And he has built so much upon it.'
'Yes—they all do at the outset. Mind, Effie, he is a clever boy: he will do. Meantime, he must study.'
'Oh! Poor Archie! Poor boy!'
'It seems hard, doesn't it, not to succeed all at once? Yet Browning and Tennyson and Thackeray were all well on for forty before they succeeded. Why should he despair? Meantime I have made him a little offer.'
'Oh! Mr. Feilding, you are always so good.'