I tried to explain as much to him--but it was difficult, and he gave me no help.
I knew there had been others that he had fostered, only to see them, in the end, drift into the back-wash.

And now he thought I was going too....
"Here," he said, suddenly breaking away from the subject, "look at that." He threw a heavy, ribbon-bound mass of matter into my lap, and recommenced writing his report upon its saleability as a book.

He was of opinion that it was too delicately good to attract his employer's class of readers.

I began to read it to get rid of my thoughts.

The heavy black handwriting of the manuscript sticks in my mind's eye.