And if I speak bitterly, well, I am suffering from my powerlessness.

I am a failure, my poor girl, and it isn't easy for me to look with charity on the success of men who deserved it far less than I did, when I was still able to work.' 'Of course, Edwin, if you make up your mind that you are a failure, you will end by being so.

But I'm convinced there's no reason that you should fail to make a living with your pen.

Now let me advise you; put aside all your strict ideas about what is worthy and what is unworthy, and just act upon my advice.

It's impossible for you to write a three-volume novel; very well, then do a short story of a kind that's likely to be popular.