Nor was this all.  As I prepared to take my departure I was handed the address of another gentleman who would also examine me and make a report.  Before I got out of the room my inquisitor said, “It may interest you to know that we have had more than six hundred applications for the post, and that it may, therefore, take some time before the matter is definitely settled.”

I was appalled.  Evidently I had been wasting my time, for I could have no doubt that the gallant six hundred would include a sample of every kind of pundit, stationary or vagrant, encompassed within the seven seas; and against such competition I felt my chances to be just precisely nothing.

My companion observed my discomfiture. and as he shook hands he said, “Oh, that doesn’t really mean very much.  As a matter of fact we were able to throw out more than five hundred and fifty applications merely for self-evident reasons.  A number of school teachers and bank clerks applied, and in general these gentlemen said that although they had not traveled they would have no objection to living abroad, and that they might venture to hope that if they did go to sea they would prove to be good sailors.

“Most of them appeared to think that the circumstance of being middle-aged would off-set their deficiencies in other directions.  There are really only a few gentlemen whom we can consider as being likely to meet Mr. Pulitzer’s requirements, and the selection will be made finally by Mr. Pulitzer himself.  It is very probable that you will be asked to go to Mentone to spend a fortnight or so on Mr. Pulitzer’s yacht or at his villa at Cap Martin, as he never engages anybody until he has had the candidate with him for a short visit.

“And, by the way, would you mind writing a short narrative of your life, not more than two thousand words?  It would interest Mr. Pulitzer and would help him to reach a decision in your case.  You might also send me copies of some of your writings.”

Thus ended my interview with Mr. James M. Tuohy, the London correspondent of the New York World.

My next step was to call upon the second inquisitor, Mr. George Ledlie.  I found him comfortably installed at an hotel in the West End.  He was an American, very courteous and pleasant, but evidently prepared to use a probe without any consideration for the feelings of the victim.

As my business was to reveal myself, I wasted no time, and for about an hour I rambled along on the subject of my American experiences.  I do not know to this day what sort of an impression I created upon this gentleman, but I felt at the time that it ought to have been a favorable one.

We had many friends in common; I had recently been offered a lectureship in the university from which he had graduated; some of my books had been published in America by firms in whose standing he had confidence; I paraded a slight acquaintance with three Presidents of the United States, and produced from my pocketbook letters from two of them; we found that we were both respectful admirers of a charming lady who had recently undergone a surgical operation; he had been a guest at my club in Boston, I had been a guest at his club in New York.  When I left him I thought poorly of the chances of the remnant of the six hundred.