Big Poker Site hazard of new fortunes 60

you that letter," said Beaton, all the more haughtily because he found that Fulkerson was not alone when he welcomed him in these free and easy terms. There was a quiet-looking man, rather stout, and a little above the middle height, with a full, close-cropped iron-gray beard, seated beyond the table where Fulkerson tilted himself back, with his knees set against it; and leaning against the mantel there was a young man with a singularly gentle face, in which the look of goodness qualified and transfigured a certain simplicity. His large blue eyes were somewhat prominent; and his rather narrow face was drawn forward in a nose a little too long perhaps, if it had not been for the full chin deeply cut below the lip, and jutting firmly forward. "Introduce you to Mr. March, our editor, Mr. Beaton," Fulkerson said, rolling his head in the direction of the elder man; and then nodding it toward the younger, he said, "Mr. Dryfoos, Mr. Beaton." Beaton shook hands with March, and then with Mr. Dryfoos, and Fulkerson went on, gayly: "We were just talking of you, Beaton--well, you know the old saying. Mr. March, as I told you, is our editor, and Mr. Dryfoos has charge of the publishing department--hes the counting-room incarnate, the source of power, the fountain of corruption, the element that prevents journalism being the high and holy thing that it would be if there were no money in it." Mr. Dryfoos turned his large, mild eyes upon Beaton, and laughed with the uneasy concession which people make to a character when they do not quite approve of the characters language. "What Mr. March and I are trying to do is to carry on this thing so that there wont be any money in it--or very little; and were planning to give the public a better article for the price than its ever had before. Now heres a dummy weve had made up for Every Other Week, and as weve decided to adopt it, we would naturally like your opinion of it, sos to know what opinion to have of you." He reached forward and pushed toward Beaton a volume a little above the size of the ordinary duodecimo book; its ivory-white pebbled paper cover was prettily illustrated with a water-colored design irregularly washed over the greater part of its surface: quite across the page at top, and narrowing from right to left as it descended. In the triangular space left blank the title of the periodical and the publishers imprint were tastefully lettered so as to be partly covered by the background of color. "Its like some of those Tartarin books of Daudets," said Beacon, looking at it with more interest than he suffered to be seen. "But its a book, not a magazine." He opened its pages of thick, mellow white paper, with uncut leaves, the first few pages experimentally printed in the type intended to be used, and illustrated with some sketches drawn into and over the text, for the sake of the effect. "A Daniel--a Daniel come to judgment! Sit down, Danel, and take it easy." Fulkerson pushed a chair toward Beaton, who dropped into it. "Youre right, Danel; its a book, to all practical intents and purposes. And what we propose to do with the American public is to give it twenty-four books like this a year--a complete library--for the absurd sum of six dollars. We dont intend to sell em--its no name for the transaction--but to give em. And what we want to get out of you--beg, borrow, buy, or steal from you is an opinion whether we shall make the American public this princely present in paper covers like this, or in some sort of flexible boards, so they can set them on the shelf and say no more about it. Now, Danel, come to judgment, as our respected friend Shylock remarked." Beacon had got done looking at the dummy, and he dropped it on the table before Fulkerson, who pushed it away, apparently to free himself from partiality. "I dont know anything about the business side, and I cant tell about the effect of either style on the sales; but youll spoil the whole character of the cover if you use anything thicker than that thickish paper." "All right; very good; first-rate. The ayes have it. Paper it is. I dont mind telling you that we had decided for that paper before you came in. Mr. March wanted it, because he felt in his bones just the way you do about it, and

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