out near the riverside end of the park the two cars stopped abreast under a vast live-oak, and aline, rising, opened the letter and read aloud:

my dear mr. chester:

your manuscript, "the holy cross," accompanied by your letter of the -- inst., is received and will have our early attention.

very respectfully,

the editor.

all other outcries ceased half-uttered when the chapdelaine sisters clapped hands for joy, crying:

"agcepted! agcepted! ah, aline! by that kindnezz and sag-acitie of mr. chezter--and all the rez' of our royal street frien'--you are biccome the diz-ting-uish' and lucrative authorezz, mlle. chapdelaine!"

m. de l'isle's wrath was too hot for his tongue, but scipion stood waiting to speak, and mme. castanado beckoned attention and spoke his name.

"messieurs et mesdames" he said, "that manuscrip' is no mo' agcept' than rij-ect'. that stadement, tha'z only to rilease those insuranze companie' and----"

"and to stop us from telegraphing!" m. de l'isle broke in, "and to make us, ad the end, glad to get even a small price! ah, mesdemoiselles, you don't know those razcal' like me!"

"oh!" cried the tender yvonne--original rescuer of marie madeleine from boy lynchers--"you don't have charitie! that way you make yo'seff un'appie."

"me, i cann' think," her sister persevered, "that tha'z juz' for the insuranse. the manuscrip' is receive'? well! 'ow can you receive something if you don't agcept it? and 'ow can you agcep' that if you don' receive it? ah-h-h!"

"no," beloiseau rejoined, "tha'z only to signify that the editorial decision--tha'z not decide'."

mlle. corinne lifted both hands to the entire jury: "oh, frien', i assure you, that manuscrip' is agcept'. and tha'z the proof; that both yvonne and me we've had a presentiment of that already sinze the biggening! ah-h-h!"

castanado intervened: "mademoiselle, that lady yonder"--he gave his wife a courtier's bow--"will tell you a differenze. once on a time she receive' a h-offer of marriage; but 'twas not till after many days thad she agcept' it." [applause.] "but ad the en', i su'pose tha'z for mr. chezter, our legal counsel, to conclude."

mr. chester "thought that although receipt did not imply acceptance the tardiness of this letter did argue a probability that the manuscript had successfully passed some sort of preliminary reading--or readings--and now awaited only the verdict of the editor-in-chief."

"or," ventured mme. alexandre, "of that editorial board all together."

m. de l'isle shook his head and then a stiff finger: "i tell you! they are sicretly inquiring thorndyke-smith--lit'ry magnet--to fine out if we are truz'-worthy! and tha'z the miztake we did---not sen'ing the photograph of mlle. aline ad the biggening. but tha'z not yet too late; we can wire them from firz' drug-store, 'suspen' judgment! portrait of authorezz coming!'"

all eyes, even cupid's, turned to her. she was shaking her head. "no," she responded, with a smile as lovely, to chester's fancy, as it was final; as final, to the two aunts' conviction, as it was lovely.

"no photograph would be convincing," chester began to plead, but stopped for the aunts.

"oh, impossible!" they cried. "that wou'n' be de-corouz!"

"ladies an' gentlemen," said m. castanado, "we are on a joy-ride."

"an' we 'ave reason!" his wife exclaimed.

"biccause hope!" mme. alexandre put in.

"yes!" said dubroca. "that manuscrip' is not allone receive'; sinze more than a week 'tis rittain', whiles they dillib-rate; and the chateau what dillib-rate'--you know, eh? m'sieu' de l'isle, i move you we go h-on."

they went, the de l'isle car and then scipion's, back to st. charles avenue, and turned again up-town. on the rearmost seat----

"why so silent?" aline inquired of chester.

"because so content," he said, "except when i think of the book."

"the half-book?"

"exactly. we've only half enough stories yet.

"though with the vieux carré full of them?"

"oh! mostly so raw, so bald, so thin!"

"ah, i knew you would see that. as though human life and character were--what would say?"

"i'd say crustacean; their anatomy all on the surface. such stories are not life, life in the round; they're only paper silhouettes--of the real life's poorest facts and moments. i state the thought poorly but you get it, don't you?"

the girl sparkled, not so much for the thought as for their fellowship in it. "once i heard mamma say to my aunts: 'so many of these vieux carré stories are but pretty pebbles--a quadroon and a duel, a quadroon and a duel--always the same two peas in the baby's rattle.'"

"there are better stories for a little deeper search," chester said.

"ah, she said that too! 'and not,' she said, 'because the vieux carré is unlike, but so like the rest of the world.'"

thus they spoke, happily--even a bit recklessly--conscious that they were themselves a beautiful story without the flash of a sword or the cloud of a misdeed in range of their sight, and not because the vieux carré was unlike, but so like the rest of the world.

"where are we going?" aline inquired, and tried to look forward around mme. castanado.

"you and i," chester said, "are going back to your father's story. you said, the other day, his life was quiet, richer within than without."

"yes. ah, yes; so that while of the inside i cannot tell half, of the outside there is almost nothing to tell."

"all the same, tell it. were not he and these royal street men boys together?"

"yes, though with m. de l'isle the oldest, and though papa was away from them many years, over there in france. yes, they were all his friends, as their fathers had been of grandpère. and they'll all tell you the same thing; that he was their hero, while at the same time that his story is destitute of the theatrical. just he himself, he and mamma--they are the whole story."

"a sea without a wave?"

"ah, no; yet without a storm. and, mr. chester, i think a sea without a storm can be just as deep as with, h'm?"