Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: The great writer still stared at him; he seemed at a loss to know how to answer; the master of imaginary romances stood spellbound before the real thing. "All right—come along," he said. "I won't promise you eight pounds, but I'll give you ten minutes of my time. Mind the step, old fellow! " And thus invited, Kirk followed Homer Kittredge into the dark and uninviting passage. CHAPTER VI He was led upstairs and ushered into an attractively furnished room. At one end, sparkling in the light of the open fire, was a trophy of arms—rifles, bayonets, Oriental daggers, etc. On the warmly tinted walls hung reproductions of De'taille— dashing war pictures, full of movement, colour, and red legs; limp red legs lying dead on grey village streets; vigorous red legs, astride of horses, intercepting Uhlans; weary but heroic red legs, covering the retreat of dusty columns; dejected red legs, cutting the regimental colours into pieces before surrender. There were two tables in the room, one littered with manuscript, cigar stumps, books, and newspapers, the other spread for a solitary dinner that Kirk had evidently interrupted. "Hungry?" inquired the novelist, picking his napkin off the floor, and briskly seating himself. 1 "Yes " "Well, then sit down. Beer?" "Oh, Mr. Kittredge, I did not mean to " "Hold your tongue," said the novelist cheerfully. "Skip gratitude and all that, and get yourself one of those mugs off the mantelpiece." As Kirk obeyed he carved a slice off the roast, and apologized for offering it to him on a bread-plate. "But I dare say you won't mind," he added. The two men smiled at each other across the table. Kittredge flourished his mug. " Now, my handsome tramp," he cried, with ambiguous, geniality, "let's drink to our better acquaintance, an...