I set myself seriously to work, laid in a large stock of apples and jumbles, and spent several consecutive afternoons in completing a story which I called 'A Pleasant Evening.' After I had written it I copied it out in my best hand, and then, with fear and trembling, I sent it to the _Family Herald_. I sent it to the _Family Herald_ because I had heard a lady who visited at our house say that she knew a lady who knew a lady who had sent a story to the _Family Herald_, never having written anything before in her life, and the story had been accepted, and the writer had received five pounds for it by return of post. [Illustration: THE BALCONY] I didn't receive anything by return of post, but in about a fortnight my manuscript came back to me. Nothing daunted, I carefully cut off the corner on which 'Declined with thanks' had been written, and I sent the story to _Chamber's Journal_. Here it met with a similar fate, but I fancy it took a little longer to come back, and it bore signs of wear and tear. I knew, or I had read, that it was not wise to let your manuscript have the appearance of being rejected, so I spent several unpleasant evenings in writing 'A Pleasant Evening' out again, and I sent it to _All the Year Round_. It came back! This time I didn't take the trouble to open it I knew it directly I saw it, and as it reached me so I flung it in my desk and bit my lips, and made up my mind that after all it was better to be accepted as a poet in the 'Answers to Correspondents' column of the _Halfpenny Journal_ than to be rejected as a story-writer by the editors of higher-priced periodicals. [Illustration: 'Beauty,' an old Favourite, Twenty Years old.] But though I played with poetry again, I didn't even succeed in getting into the 'Answers to Correspondents.' My vaulting ambition o'erleaped its selle, and I sent my verses to journals which didn't 'correspond.' In those days I kept a little book, in which I entered all the manuscripts I sent to editors, and from it now I copy the following instructive record. R stands for 'Returned':-- _Once a Week_ 'The Minstrel's Curse' R. _Belgravia_ 'After the Battle' R. _Broadway_ 'After the Battle' R. _Fun_ 'Nearer and Dearer' R. _Fun_ 'An Unfortunate Attachment' R. _Fun_ 'A Song of May' R. _Banter_ 'Nearer and Dearer' R. _Judy_ 'An Unfortunate Attachment' R. _London Society_ 'The Minstrel's Curse' R. _Owl_ 'Nearer and Dearer' R. Returned! Returned! Returned! All I got for my pains was the chance of making a joke in my diary on my birthday. In those days of my wild struggles with Fate I find written against the 2nd of September, 'Many unhappy Returns.'