Page:Embarrassments (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1897).djvu/215

Rh "Therefore," I inquired with a flash of hope, "they'll offer him more for worse?"

"No indeed," she answered, "they haven't even offered him to go on at a reduction. He isn't funny enough."

I reflected a moment. "But surely such a thing as his notice of my book!"

"It was your wretched book that was the last straw! He should have treated it superficially."

"Well, if he didn't!" I began. Then I checked myself. "Je vous porte malheur."

She didn't deny this; she only went on: "What on earth is he to do?"

"He's to do better than the monkeys! He's to write!"

"But what on earth are we to marry on?"

I considered once more. "You're to marry on The Major Key."