“Now, William, listen patiently to me,” I said.  “An artist lies under this great disadvantage in case of accidents—­his talents are of no service to him unless he can use his eyes and fingers.  An author, on the other hand, can turn his talents to account just as well by means of other people’s eyes and fingers as by means of his own.  In your present situation, therefore, you have nothing for it, as I said before, but to turn author.  Wait! and hear me out.  The book I want you to make is a book of all your stories.  You shall repeat them, and I will write them down from your dictation.  Our manuscript shall be printed; we will sell the book to the public, and so support ourselves honorably in adversity, by doing the best we can to interest and amuse others.”

While I was saying all this—­I suppose in a very excitable manner—­my husband looked, as our young sailor-friend would phrase it, quite taken aback. “You were always quick at contriving, Leah,” he said; “but how in the world came you to think of this plan?”

“I thought of it while you were telling them the gambling-house adventure downstairs,” I answered.

“It is an ingenious idea, and a bold idea,” he went on, thoughtfully.  “But it is one thing to tell a story to a circle of friends, and another thing to put it into a printed form for an audience of strangers.  Consider, my dear, that we are neither of us used to what is called writing for the press.”

“Very true,” said I, “but nobody is used to it when they first begin, and yet plenty of people have tried the hazardous literary experiment successfully.  Besides, in our case, we have the materials ready to our hands; surely we can succeed in shaping them presentably if we aim at nothing but the simple truth.”

“Who is to do the eloquent descriptions and the striking reflections, and all that part of it?” said William, perplexedly shaking his head.

“Nobody!” I replied.  “The eloquent descriptions and the striking reflections are just the parts of a story-book that people never read.  Whatever we do, let us not, if we can possibly help it, write so much as a single sentence that can be conveniently skipped.  Come! come!” I continued, seeing him begin to shake his head again; “no more objections, William, I am too certain of the success of my plan to endure them.  If you still doubt, let us refer the new project to a competent arbitrator.  The doctor is coming to see you to-morrow.  I will tell him all that I have told you; and if you will promise on your side, I will engage on mine to be guided entirely by his opinion.”

William smiled, and readily gave the promise.  This was all I wanted to send me to bed in the best spirits.  For, of course, I should never have thought of mentioning the doctor as an arbitrator, if I had not known beforehand that he was sure to be on my side.