Then, the idea suddenly
occurring to me, I said:
"'Why don't you get a new girl altogether? There must be medium girls
that both Smith and Smythe could like, and that would put up with both of
you.'
"'No more girls for this child,' he answered 'they're more trouble than
they're worth. Those yer want yer carn't get, and those yer can 'ave,
yer don't want.'
"I started, and looked up at him. He was slouching along with his hands
in his pockets, and a vacuous look in his face.
"A sudden repulsion seized me. 'I must go now,' I said, stopping. 'I'd
no idea I had come so far.'
"He seemed as glad to be rid of me as I to be rid of him. 'Oh, must
yer,' he said, holding out his hand. 'Well, so long.'
"We shook hands carelessly. He disappeared in the crowd, and that is the
last I have ever seen of him."
* * * * *
"Is that a true story?" asked Jephson.
"Well, I've altered the names and dates," said MacShaughnassy; "but the
main facts you can rely upon."
CHAPTER X
The final question discussed at our last meeting been: What shall our
hero be? MacShaughnassy had suggested an author, with a critic for the
villain. My idea was a stockbroker, with an undercurrent of romance in
his nature. Said Jephson, who has a practical mind: "The question is not
what we like, but what the female novel-reader likes.
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