“DEAR SIR: I am much obliged to you for your note, for it gives me an opportunity which I have desired, to express to you my admiration of the skill and beauty of the design of the peacock’s feather, so excellently cut on wood by Mr. King. It is not merely subtle and refined execution which is shown in the piece, but a poetic feeling for the quality and charm of the feather itself and for its value in composition. Your feather ought to be as well known as Rembrandt’s shell or Hollar’s furs. For you and Mr. King in your joint work have succeeded in suggesting the splendor, the play, the concentration of color, the bewildering multiplicity of interlacing curves, the elastic spring and vitality of every fiber, and have given the immortality of art to one of the purely decorative productions of nature. I shall look for your new work with great interest. “I am very desirous to see a proof of your feathers on soft India paper. If I can find some proper paper here I shall be tempted to send it to you. But paper suitable for such work is not easily found.” All this was said of the youth who six years before had been pronounced without even the promise of ability! Surely he had a right to be proud of his triumph. He had fairly won his spurs. Henceforth there was no doubt of his standing as one of the first of American illustrators. [Illustration: _”The Peacock’s Feather” (“The Peerless Plume”)_ (“_Highways and Byways_”) _Copyright, 1882, by Harper & Brothers_] CHAPTER III A QUICK SUCCESS