.. Hold hard, young sir! You can't shoot an editor in his
sanctum because of an ill-advised but natural question."
"True enough. Nor do I want--well, yes; I would rather like to."
"Good! That's natural and genuine."
"What do you think The Bon Vivant would pay for that story?" inquired
Banneker.
"Perhaps a hundred dollars. Cheap, for a career, isn't it!"
"Isn't the assumption that there is but one pathway to the True Art and
but one signboard pointing to it a little excessive?"
"Abominably. There are a thousand pathways, broad and narrow. They all
go uphill.... Some day when you spin something out of your own inside,
Mr. Banneker, forgive the well-meaning editor and let us see it. It
might be pure silk."
All the way downtown, Banneker cursed inwardly but brilliantly. This was
his first set-back. Everything prior which he had attempted had been
successful. Inevitably the hard, firm texture of his inner endurance had
softened under the spoiled-child treatment which the world had readily
accorded him. Even while he recognized this, he sulked.
To some extent he was cheered up by a letter from the editor of that
lively and not too finicky publication, Tittle-Tattle. The interview
with Miss Raleigh was acclaimed with almost rapturous delight.
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