Page:A Literary Courtship (1893).pdf/57

 "Why 'the worst of it,' Jack? What do you care about the state of mind of a woman you never set eyes upon?"

"Oh, I don't care, of course, only—blighted beings are not in my line."

But this particular "blighted being" proved to be very much in his line. He was just the man to feel the charm of a good letter, and, furthermore, he could never resist the fascination of an unproved point. We assumed that she was the author of the poems, but we were not in possession of certainty on the subject. Her age was also a much mooted question until we were lucky enough to get positive evidence on that point. The experienced tone of many of the poems had led us to think that she must be an older woman than we had at first supposed, but a chance conversation with Jim Arnold, the doctor, cleared that up for us.

It happened that Arnold dropped in at my rooms one evening and found Spoils lying on the table. I had been looking it through, as I often do to this day.