"
Strong in my belief that I could bring the young woman to terms, I
went to my desk and tried my hand at a story, with Miss Andrews as
its heroine, and I was not particular about being realistic either.
Neither did I go off into any trances in search of heroes and
villains. I did what Harley could not do. I brought the New York
back to port that very day, and despatched Robert Osborne, the
despised lover of the first tale, to Newport.
"She shall have him whether she likes him or not," said I, gritting
my teeth determinedly; "and she won't know whether she loves him or
Count Bonetti best; and she'll promise to marry both of them; and she
shall go to Venice in August, despite her uncompromising refusal to
do so for Harley; and she shall meet Balderstone there, and, no
matter what her opinion of him or of his literary work, she shall be
fascinated by the story I'll have him write, and under the spell of
that fascination she shall promise to marry him also; whereupon the
Willards will turn up and take her to Heidelberg, where I'll have her
meet the hero she couldn't wait for at the Howlett dance, the
despised Professor, and she shall promise to be his wife likewise;
and finally I'll put her on board a steamer at Southampton, bound for
New York, with Mrs.
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