'I have just read this first of your new series of sketches. Allow me to
tell you that I think it admirable. In the briefest possible compass
you have pictured a whole community in its petty relationships, at once
tragic and comic. There is caustic satire in this sketch, yet I
find deep human sympathy as well. It is a pleasure to make your
acquaintance.'
When, after a rather amazing outpouring of words--the thing didn't
amount to much; just a rough draft really; he hoped they'd like the next
one; it was about cauliflowers--he had disappeared into the front room,
the Senator remarked:--
'The young man makes an excellent impression.'
'The young man,' remarked Madame, 'is all right.'
Half an hour later the noise of the front door opening, and a voice,
caused the two young people to start up out of a breathless absorption
in the story called _A Kerbstone Barmecide_, which Henry was reading
from long strips of galley proof. He had already finished _The
Cauliflowers of the Caliph_.
For a moment Cicely's face went blank.