Elfrida was a "find" to Mr.Arthur Rattray from a newspaper point of view--a find he gave himself credit for sagaciously recognizing, and one which it would be expedient to obtain complete possession of before its market value should become known.
And it was hardly possible for Mr.Rattray to divest himself of the newspaper point of view in the consideration of anything which concerned him personally.

It struck him as uniquely fortunate that his own advantage and that of the _Age_ should tally, as it undoubtedly might in this instance; and that, for Arthur Rattray, was putting the matter in a rather high, almost disinterested connection.
It is doubtful whether to this day Mr.Rattray fully understands his rejection, it was done so deftly, so frankly, yet with such a delicate consideration for his feelings.

He took it, he assured himself afterward, without winking; but it is unlikely that he felt sufficiently indebted to the manner of its administration, in congratulating himself upon this point.

It may be, too, that he left Miss Bell with the impression that her intention never to marry was not an immovable one, given indefinite time and indefinite abstention, on his part, from alluding to the subject.

Certainly he found himself surprisingly little cast down by the event, and more resolved than ever to make the editor-in-chief admit that Elfrida's contributions were "the brightest things in the paper," and act accordingly.