"Will it come--soon?" she demanded. "By George!--I hope so!" he exclaimed. "I'll be hard up again, if it doesn't." "And then you offer to do for five what you might easily get ten for!" she said, almost reproachfully. "Let me give you a bit of advice--never accept a first offer. Stand out for a bit more--especially from anybody like my cousin Melky." "Is Melky a keen one, then?" enquired Lauriston. "Melky's a young Jew," said Zillah, calmly. "I'm not--I'm half-and-half--a mixture. My mother was Jew--my father wasn't. Well--if you want money to be going on with, and you've got any more gold watches, you know where to come. Don't you ever go with empty pockets in London while you've got a bit of property to pledge! You're not a Londoner, of course?" "I'm a Scotsman!" said Lauriston. "To be sure--I knew it by your tongue," asserted Zillah. "And trying to make a living by writing! Well, you'll want courage--and money. Have you had any luck?" "I've sold two stories," answered Lauriston, who by that time was feeling as if the girl was an old friend. "They come to twenty pounds for the two, at the rate that magazine pays, and I've asked for a cheque--it's that I'm waiting for. It ought to come--any time." "Oh, but I know that game!" said Zillah. "I've two friends--girls--who write. I know how they have to wait--till publication, or till next pay-day. What a pity that some of you writers don't follow some other profession that would bring in a good income--then you could do your writing to please yourselves, and not be dependent on it. Haven't you thought of that?" "Often!" answered Lauriston. "And it wouldn't do--for me, anyway. I've made my choice. I'll stick to my pen--and swim or sink with it. And I'm not going to sink!" "That's the way to talk--to be sure!" said the girl. "But--keep yourself in money, if you can. Don't go without money for three days when you've anything you can raise money on. You see how practical I am! But you've got to be in this world. Will you tell me something?" "It strikes me," answered Lauriston, looking at her narrowly and bringing the colour to her cheeks, "that I'm just about getting to this--that I'd tell you anything! And so--what is it?" "How much money have you left?" she asked softly. "Precisely a shilling--and a copper or two," he answered. "And--if that cheque doesn't arrive?" she suggested. "Maybe I'll be walking round to Praed Street again," he said, laughing. "I've a bit of what you call property, yet." The girl nodded, and turned towards a side-walk that led across the Gardens. "All right," she said. "Don't think me inquisitive--I don't like to think of--of people like you being hard up: I'm not wrapped up in business as much as all that. Let's talk of something else--tell me what you write about."