"Will it succeed?"

"Oh, no!" he laughed.

"You think not?" Her interest in this dull business struck him as
astonishing, and yet in character with her as he had known her in
Plattville. Then he wondered unhappily if she thought that talking of the
"Herald" and learning things about the working of a country newspaper
would help her to understand Brainard Macauley.

"Why have you let him go on with it?" she asked. "I suppose you have
encouraged him?"

"Oh, yes, I encouraged him. The creature's recklessness fascinated me. A
dare-devil like that is always charming.'"

"You think there is no chance for the creature's succeeding with the
daily?"

"None," he replied indifferently.

"You mentioned work-baskets, I think?"

He laughed again. "I believe him to be the original wooden-nutmeg man.
Once a week he produces a 'Woman's Page,' wherein he presents to the
Carlow female public three methods for making currant jelly, three
receipts for the concoction of salads, and directs the ladies how to
manufacture a pretty work-basket out of odd scraps in twenty minutes. The
astonishing part of it is that he has not yet been mobbed by the women who