Allen hardly appeared at the party. He had a fresh attack of
sleepless headache and palpitation, brought on by the departure of
Miss Menella for the Continent, and perhaps by the failure of "A
Single Eye" with some of the magazines. He dabbled a little with his
mother's clay, and produced a nymph, who, as he persuaded her and
himself, was a much nobler performance than Andromache, but
unfortunately she did not prove equally marketable. And he said it
was quite plain that he could not succeed in anything imaginative
till his health and spirits had recovered from the blow; but he was
ready to do anything.
So Dr. Medlicott brought in one day a medical lecture that he wanted
to have translated from the German, and told Allen that it would be
well paid for. He began, but it made his head ache; it was not a
subject that he could well turn over to Babie; and when Jock brought
a message to say the translation must be ready the next day, only a
quarter had been attempted. Jock sat up till three o'clock in the
morning and finished it, but he could not pain his mother by letting
her know that her son had again failed, so Allen had the money, and
really believed, as he said, that all Jock had done was to put the
extreme end to it, and correct the medical lingo of which he could
not be expected to know anything.
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