You know, perhaps, that I was nearly being an authoress once, and that seems as if I was destined to 'employ my time in writing.'"
"No, indeed; we must return to the subject of the clerkship afterwards, if you please. An authoress, Miss Galindo! You surprise me!"
"But, indeed, I was. All was quite ready. Doctor Burney used to teach me music: not that I ever could learn, but it was a fancy of my poor father's. And his daughter wrote a book, and they said she was but a very young lady, and nothing but a music-master's daughter; so why should not I try?"
"Well?"
"Well! I got paper and half-a-hundred good pens, a bottle of ink, all ready--"
"And then--"
"O, it ended in my having nothing to say, when I sat down to write. But sometimes, when I get hold of a book, I wonder why I let such a poor reason stop me. It does not others."
