He will meet magazine writers
getting up articles, and popular novelists looking for local Red
color.
But Peter's best bid of all will be as a lecturer. He will be able
to travel all over the country, making a sensation. Did he know why?
No, Peter answered, he was not sure he did. Well, Gladys could tell
him; it was because he was romantic. Peter didn't know just what
this word meant, but it sounded flattering, so he smiled sheepishly,
showing his crooked teeth, and asked how Gladys found out that he
was romantic. The reply was a sudden order for him to stand up and
turn around slowly.
Peter didn't like to get up from his comfortable Morris chair, but
he did what his wife asked him. She inspected him on all sides and
exclaimed, "Peter, you must go on a diet; you're getting
ombongpoing!" She said this in horrified tones, and Peter was
frightened, because it sounded like a disease. But Gladys added:
"You can not be a romantic figure on a lecture platform if you've
got a bay-window!"
Peter found it interesting to be talked about, so he asked again why
Gladys thought he was romantic. There were several reasons, she
said, but the main one was that he had been a dangerous criminal,
and had reformed, which pleased the church people; he had made a
happy ending by marriage, which pleased those who read novels.
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