In an assortment of nieces, totalling nine in all--but two of them,
being still, in Sir WALTER'S phrase, composed of "that species of pink
dough which is called a fine infant" do not count--I think that my
favourites are Enid and Hannah. Enid being the daughter of a brother
of mine, and Hannah of a sister, they are cousins. They are also
collaborators in literature and joint editors of a magazine for family
consumption entitled _The Attic Salt-Cellar_. The word "Attic" refers
to the situation of the editorial office, which is up a very perilous
ladder, and "salt-cellar" was a suggestion of my own, which, though
adopted, is not yet understood.
During the search for pseudonyms for the staff--the pseudonym is an
essential in home journalism, and the easiest way of securing it is
to turn one's name round--we came upon the astonishing discovery that
Hannah is exactly the same whether you spell it backwards or forwards.
Hannah therefore calls herself, again at my suggestion, "Pal,"
which is short for "palindrome." We also discovered, to her intense
delight, that Enid, when reversed, makes "Dine"--a pleasant word but
a poor pseudonym. She therefore calls herself after her pet flower,
"Marigold."
Between them Pal and Marigold do all the work. There is room for an
epigram if you happen to have one about you, or even an ode, but they
can get along without outside contributions. Enid does most of the
writing and Hannah copies it out.
So much for prelude to the story of Enid's serial. Having observed
that all the most popular periodicals have serial stories she decided
that she must write one too. It was called "The Prairie Lily," and
begun splendidly. I give the list of characters at the head of the
first instalment:--
_The Duke of Week_, an angry father and member of the House of Lords.
_The Duchess of Week_, his wife, once famous for her beauty.
_Lady Lily_, their daughter, aged nineteen and very lovely.
_Mr. Ploot_, an American millionaire who loves the Lady Lily.
_Lord Eustace Vavasour_, the Lady Lily's cousin, who loves her.
_Jack Crawley_, a young farmer and the one that the Lady Lily loves.
_Fanny Starlight_, a poor relation and the Lady Lily's very closest
friend.
_Webb_, the Lady Lily's maid.
Such were the characters when the story began, and at the end of the
first instalment the author, with very great ingenuity--or perhaps
with only a light-hearted disregard of probability--got the whole
bunch of them on a liner going to America. The last sentence described
the vessel gliding away from the dock, with the characters leaning
over the side waving good-bye. Even Jack Crawley, the young farmer,
was there; but he was not waving with the others, because he did not
want anyone to know that he knew the Lady Lily, or was on board at
all. Lord Eustace was on one side of the Lady Lily as she waved,
and Mr. Ploot on the other, and they were, of course, consumed with
jealousy of each other.
Having read the first instalment, with the author's eye fixed
embarrassingly upon me, and the author giggling as she watched, I said
that it was very interesting; as indeed it was. I went on to ask what
part of America they were all going to, and how it would end, and so
on; and Enid sketched the probable course of events, which included
a duel for Lord Eustace and Mr. Ploot (who turned out to be not a
millionaire at all, but a gentleman thief) and a very exciting time
for the Lady Lily on a ranche in Texas, whither she had followed Jack
Crawley, who was to become famous throughout the States as "The Cowboy
King." I forget about the Duke and Duchess, but a lover was to be
found on the ranche for Fanny Starlight; and Red Indians were to carry
off Webb, who was to be rescued by the Cowboy King; and so on. There
were, in short, signs that Enid had not only read the feuilletons in
the picture papers but had been to the Movies too. But no matter what
had influenced her, the story promised well.
Judge then my surprise when on opening the next number of _The Attic
Salt-Cellar_ I found that the instalment of the serial consisted only
of the following:--