CHAPTER XVII.
AN AWKWARD SITUATION.
Frequent letters from Betty Jo informed Brian and Auntie Sue of that practical and businesslike young woman's negotiations with various Eastern publishers, until, at last, the matter was finally settled to Betty Jo's satisfaction.
She had contracted with a well-known firm for the publication of the book.

The details were all arranged.

The work was to begin immediately.
Betty Jo was returning to the little log house by the river.
Brian drove to Thompsonville the morning she was to arrive, and it seemed to him that "Old Prince" had never jogged so leisurely along the winding river road, yet he was at the little mountain station nearly an hour before the train was due.
Those weeks had been very anxious weeks to Brian, in spite of Auntie Sue's oft-repeated assurances that no publisher could fail to recognize the value of his work.

And, to be entirely truthful, Brian himself, deep down in his heart, felt a certainty that his work would receive recognition.

But, still, he would argue with himself, his feeling of confidence might very well be due to the dear old gentlewoman's enthusiastic faith in him rather than in any merit in the book itself; and it was a well-established fact--to all unpublished writers at least--that publishers are a heartless folk, and exceedingly loth to extend a helpful hand to unrecognized genius, however great the worth of its offering.