"You have the stuff in you; you have the stuff! Work hard, and when you have served your apprenticeship come back to me, and I'll help you all I can. Send me one MS in three months--one, remember. If you send more I sha'n't read them. When one is accepted you will have reached the first rung of the ladder. No, don't thank me! I will accept nothing from you, nor from any one else, that does not deserve a place on its own merits. Good-morning." His eyes fell on the roll of paper in her hand, and he pointed to it with an outstretched finger. "Don't--er--don't overdo it," he said meaningly. "Don't try to be too clever." Then the door shut, and Theo groped her way down the stairs. Her cheeks were crimson; she beat the banisters savagely with the paper roll. Jack-in-office looked out of his open door and grinned to himself in amused understanding. He had seen "them" look like that before. CHAPTER EIGHT. VISITORS ARRIVE. Theo's pride made her represent the interview with Mr Hammond in its most favourable light to her sisters. He was satisfied that she had the makings of a successful author, was anxious to consider MSS from time to time, and had suggested a likely home for the present story. The future, in fact, was assured, but a period of probation must necessarily elapse while she served what he called her "apprenticeship." The girls appeared duly impressed, and Theo felt with satisfaction that this verdict from a high authority would go far towards procuring for her that respect and admiration which it is so difficult to obtain from the members of one's own family. "He advises me to read a great deal, to study the styles of the best masters, and to write only what I know. I think that is rather a mistake. If one possesses the literary instinct, it must surely be possible to project one's self, as it were, into the place of another, and so create an environment. How can one be expected to experience personally the whole gamut of human emotions?" "Cast your ruminating eye upon me, my love," said Madge suavely, pointing with a thin forefinger to herself. Behind Theo's back she had been occupied in rolling her eyes and waving her hands in dramatic illustration of the other's high-flown phrases, so that Hope had rushed to the window to stare at the chimney-pots, while Philippa had dropped her needle on the floor and grovelled on all-fours in order to redeem it. The two returned to their seats with expressions of preternatural gravity, while Madge continued to declaim her offers of help. "Study my character! It is full of rich and unexpected qualities. When you get to an _impasse_, ask my advice, and I'll tell you how I should behave in the circumstances. Though young in years I am old in wisdom, and you would go far before you discovered a better preceptor." Theo laughed with good-natured disdain. "Old in experience, indeed! Poor little country mouse, what do you know of life? You have never even been in love."