Till now he had only made professions; now he would act.

He said that he was empowered to offer me, along with you, a work of fiction in four volumes, such as Waverley, etc.; that he had read a considerable part of it; and, knowing the plan of the whole, he could answer for its being a production of the very first class; but that he was not at liberty to mention its title, nor was he at liberty to 'give the author's name.

I naturally asked him, was it by the author of "Waverley"?
He said it was to have no reference to any other work whatever, and everyone would be at liberty to form their own conjectures as to the author.

He only requested that, whatever we might suppose from anything that might occur afterwards, we should keep strictly to ourselves that we were to be the publishers.

The terms he was empowered by the author to offer for it were: 1.