"Not in the least!" I replied, still vastly amused. He meditated a moment,--then drew his chair closer to mine and lowered his voice a little. "You understand I suppose, that I shall only issue two hundred and fifty copies at first?" This limited number seemed to me absurd, and I protested vehemently. "Such an idea is ridiculous!" I said--"you cannot supply the trade with such a scanty edition." "Wait, my dear sir, wait,--you are too impatient. You do not give me time to explain. All these two hundred and fifty will be _given away_ by me in the proper quarters on the day of publication,--never mind how,--they _must_ be given away--" "Why?" "Why?" and the worthy Morgeson laughed sweetly--"I see, my dear Mr Tempest, you are like most men of genius--you do not understand business. The reason why we give the first two hundred and fifty copies away is in order to be able to announce at once in all the papers that '_The First Large Edition of the New Novel by Geoffrey Tempest being exhausted on the day of publication, a Second is in Rapid Preparation_.' You see we thus hoodwink the public, who of course are not in our secrets, and are not to know whether an edition is two hundred or two thousand. The Second Edition will of course be ready behind the scenes, and will consist of another two hundred and fifty." "Do you call that course of procedure honest?" I asked quietly. "Honest? My dear sir! Honest?" And his countenance wore a virtuously injured expression--"Of course it is honest! Look at the daily papers! Such announcements appear every day--in fact they are getting rather too common. I freely admit that there are a few publishers here and there who stick up for exactitude and go to the trouble of not only giving the number of copies in an Edition, but also publishing the date of each one as it was issued,--this may be principle if they like to call it so, but it involves a great deal of precise calculation and worry! If the public like to be deceived, what is the use of being exact! Now, to resume,--your second edition will be sent off 'on sale or return' to provincial booksellers, and then we shall announce--"In consequence of the Enormous Demand for the new novel by Geoffrey Tempest, the Large Second Edition is out of print. A Third will be issued in the course of next week." And so on, and so on, till we get to the sixth or seventh edition (always numbering two hundred and fifty each) in three volumes; perhaps we can by skilful management work it to a tenth. It is only a question of diplomacy and a little dexterous humbugging of the trade. Then we shall arrive at the one-volume issue, which will require different handling. But there's time enough for that. The frequent advertisements will add to the expense a bit, but if you don't mind--" "I don't mind anything," I said--"so long as I have my fun." "Your fun?" he queried surprisedly--"I thought it was fame you wanted, more than fun!" I laughed aloud.