Eustace Bright. "You will say so when you
read them."

"Possibly not," I remarked. "I know, from
my own experience, that an author's last work
is always his best one, in his own estimate,
until it quite loses the red heat of composition.
After that, it falls into its true place, quietly
enough. But let us adjourn to my study, and
examine these new stories. It would hardly be
doing yourself justice, were you to bring me
acquainted with them, sitting here on this snow
bank!??

So we descended the hill to my small, old cot-
tage, and shut ourselves up in the south-eastern
room, where the sunshine comes in, warmly and
brightly, through the better half of a winter's
day. Eustace put his bundle of manuscript
into my hands; and I skimmed through it
pretty rapidly, trying to find out its merits
and demerits by the touch of my fingers, aa
a veteran story teller ought to know how to do.

It will be remembered, that Mr. Bright con-
descended to avail himself of my literary ex-
perience by constituting me editor of the Won-
der Book. As he had no reason to complain of

[[11]]

p010 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p011w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p012

v?