Martin Eden Ch 43 p414

Paul Stought

Aug 31

a record-breaker."	u rekurd-braekur."
"Please find herewith a contract in duplicate for your next book which we have taken the liberty of forwarding to you. You will please note that we have increased your royalties to twenty per cent, which is about as high as a conservative publishing house dares go. If our offer is agreeable to you, please fill in the proper blank space with the title of your book. We make no stipulations concerning its nature. Any book on any subject. If you have one already written, so much the better. Now is the time to strike. The iron could not be hotter."	"Plyz fiend hirwith u kontrakt in dooplikut faur yaur nekst bwk which we hav taekun dhu liburty uv faurwaurding too ue. Ue wil plyz noet dhat wy hav inkrysd yaur roiltyz too twenty pur sent, which iz ubout az hie az u kunsurvutiv publishing hous derz goe. If our ofur iz ugryubul too ue, plyz fil in dhu propur blangk spaes with dhu tietul uv yaur bwk. Wy maek noe stipyulaeshunz kunsurning its naechur. Eny bwk on eny subjikt. If ue hav wun aulredy ritun, soe much dhu betur. Nou iz dhu tiem too striek. Dhy iern kwd not by hotur."
"On receipt of signed contract we shall be pleased to make you an advance on royalties of five thousand dollars. You see, we have faith in you, and we are going in on this thing big. We should like, also, to discuss with you the drawing up of a contract for a term of years, say ten, during which we shall have the exclusive right of publishing in book-form all that you produce. But more of this anon."	"On risyt uv siend kontrakt wy shal by plyzd too maek ue an udvans on roiltyz uv fiev thouzund dolurz. Ue sy, wy hav faeth in ue, and wy or go.ing in on dhis thing big. Wy shwd liek, aulsoe, too diskus with ue dhu drau.ing up uv u kontrakt faur u turm uv yirz, sae ten, dwring which wy shal hav dhy ikskloosiv riet uv publishing in bwk-faurm aul dhat ue prudoos. But maur uv dhis unon."
Martin laid down the letter and worked a problem in mental arithmetic, finding the product of fifteen cents times sixty thousand to be nine thousand dollars. He signed the new contract, inserting "The Smoke of Joy" in the blank space, and mailed it back to the publishers along with the twenty storiettes he had written in the days before he discovered the formula for the newspaper storiette. And promptly as the United States mail could deliver and return, came Singletree, Darnley & Co.'s check for five thousand dollars.	Mortun laed doun dhu letur and wurkd u problum in mentul urithmutik, fiending dhu produkt uv fiftyn sents tiemz siksty thouzund too by nien thouzund dolurz. Hy siend dhu noo kontrakt, insurting "Dhu Smoek uv Joi" in dhu blangk spaes, and maeld it bak too dhu publishurz ulong with dhu twenty stauryets he had ritun in dhu daez bifaur hy diskuvurd dhu faurmyulu faur dhu noozpaepur stauryet. And promptly az dhu Uenietud Staets mael kwd dilivur and riturn, kaem Singgultry, Dornly & Ku.'z chek faur fiev thouzund dolurz.
"I want you to come down town with me, Maria, this afternoon about two o'clock," Martin said, the morning the check arrived. "Or, better, meet me at Fourteenth and Broadway at two o'clock. I'll be looking out for you."	"Ie wunt ue too kum doun toun with my, Muryu, dhis afturnoon ubout too u'klok," Mortun sed, dhu maurning dhu chek urievd. "Aur, betur, myt my at Faurtynth and Braudwae at too u'klok. Ie'l by lwking out faur ue."
At the appointed time she was there; but shoes was the only clew to the mystery her mind had been capable of	At dhy upointud tiem shy wuz dher; but shooz wuz dhy oenly kloo too dhu mistury hur miend had bin kaepubul uv
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Martin Eden Martin Eden Intro