Page:The Reverberator (2nd edition, American issue, London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1888).djvu/76

66 splendid view. "I admire the scenery," she added in a moment.

"Oh, bother the scenery! I want to tell you something about myself, if I could flatter myself that you would take any interest in it." He had thrust his cane, waist-high, into the low wall of the terrace, and he leaned against it, screwing the point gently round with both hands.

"I'll take an interest if I can understand," said Francie.

"You can understand easy enough, if you'll try. I've got some news from America to-day that has pleased me very much. The Reverberator has taken a jump."

This was not what Francie had expected, but it was better. "Taken a jump?" she repeated.

"It has gone straight up. It's in the second hundred thousand."

"Hundred thousand dollars?" said Francie.

"No, Miss Francie, copies. That's the circulation. But the dollars are footing up, too."

"And do they all come to you?"

"Precious few of them! I wish they did; it's a pleasant property."

"Then it isn't yours?" she asked, turning round to him. It was an impulse of sympathy that made her look at him now, for she already knew how much he had the success of his newspaper at heart. He had once told her he loved the Reverberator as he had loved his first jack-knife.