American fiction -- 20th century; American fiction -- California; Western stories
When Paul returned to the Eyrie, it had been decided that Miss. Juno was
to at once begin her first contribution to periodic literature. She had
found her plot; she had only to tell her story in her own way, just as
if she were recounting it to Paul. Indeed, at his suggestion, she had
promised to sit with pen in hand and address him as if he were actually
present. In this way he hoped she would drop into the narrative style
natural to her, and so attractive to her listeners.
As for Paul Clitheroe, he was to make inquiry among his editorial
friends in the Misty City, and see if he might not effect some
satisfactory arrangement with one or another of them, whereby he would
be placed in a position enabling him to go abroad in the course of a few
weeks, and remain abroad indefinitely. He would make Venice his
headquarters; he would have the constant society of his friends; the
fellowship of Jack; together, after the joint literary labors of the
day, they would stem the sluggish tide of the darksome canals and
exchange sentiment and cigarette smoke in mutual delight. Paul was to
write a weekly or a semi-monthly letter to the journal employing him as
a special correspondent. At intervals, in the company of his friends, or
alone, he would set forth upon one of those charming excursions so
fruitful of picturesque experience, and return to his lodgings on the
Schiavoni, to work them up into magazine articles; these would later, of
course, get into book form; from the book would come increased
reputation, a larger source of revenue, and the contentment of success
which he so longed for, so often thought he had found, and so seldom
enjoyed for any length of time.
All this was to be arranged,--or rather the means to which all this was
the delightful end--was to be settled as soon as possible. Miss. Juno,
having finished her story, was to send word to Paul and he was to hie
him to the Rose Garden; thereafter at an ideal dinner, elaborated in
honor of the occasion, Eugene was to read the maiden effort, while the
author, sustained by the sympathetic presence of her admiring Mama and
her devoted Paul, awaited the verdict.
This was to be the test--a trying one for Miss Juno. As for Paul, he
felt quite patriarchal, and yet, so genuine and so deep was his interest
in the future of his protegee, that he was already showing symptoms of
anxiety.
The article having been sent to the editor of the first magazine in the
land, the family would be ready to fold its aesthetic tent and depart;
Paul, of course, accompanying them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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