Page:Meanwhile (1927).pdf/348

 the proposed layout. Not that he was over-sanguine of his ability to produce an advertisement of any practical value, but simply that he must honor the gentlemanly understanding with himself and his promise to the old man. Of such little punctilios should the life of a good man be made up.

Once started on the process of rewriting the copy, he found it unexpectedly engrossing. For once he was not struggling to bring forth an entirely original conception; his task was to find felicitous clothing for an ill-dressed idea; and his taste in clothing had always been sure.

The first paragraphs he wrote sounded in his own ears a little too playful, but the moment he ceased to be playful he detected a false earnestness in the style which repelled him. As it was only an experiment in any case he decided it best to let his pen wander where it would, and when he had finished two sample pages he was purring with contentment at the result. Any man whose roof was leaking, he reasoned, would be fess than human if this copy didn't take his fancy.

To reinforce the propaganda he drew a series of sketches in the same playful vein, filling in the masses with his resurrected water colors. All this one needs, he reflected, as he cocked his eye at the last sketch, is some of the dicky birds that Casimir rescued from the wreck of my hopes,—and he drew in a telephone wire at the side of the house, from which a choir of little winged Thanets chirped paeans of praise in favor