He performed this office, then handed the result to me, and I went to Carleton's establishment with it.
I approached a clerk and he bent eagerly over the counter to inquire into my needs; but when he found that I had come to sell a book and not to buy one, his temperature fell sixty degrees, and the old-gold intrenchments in the roof of my mouth contracted three-quarters of an inch and my teeth fell out.

I meekly asked the privilege of a word with Mr.Carleton, and was coldly informed that he was in his private office.
Discouragements and difficulties followed, but after a while I got by the frontier and entered the holy of holies.

Ah, now I remember how I managed it! Webb had made an appointment for me with Carleton; otherwise I never should have gotten over that frontier.

Carleton rose and said brusquely and aggressively, "Well, what can I do for you ?" I reminded him that I was there by appointment to offer him my book for publication.

He began to swell, and went on swelling and swelling and swelling until he had reached the dimensions of a god of about the second or third degree.