“You know, that’s not such a bad idea. Have you any writing experience, Lady Margaret? Are you a great letter writer?”

“I don’t know what you mean by great. I do write home regularly. . . .”

“And describe your life here? Your thoughts? What you like about New York, how it differs from London?”

“And Dublin, for my friend Julia’s sake.”

“Excellent! Then I have a proposition for you, Lady Margaret. How do you fancy writing a piece for me?” Mrs. Croly asked. “You can simply draft it up if you like. I can finesse it for publication.”

“Actually . . .” Margaret hesitated. Would these two erudite women think her stories trivial? You are a published author! She could almost hear Donald urging her not to hide her light under a bushel! “Actually, I have already been published. I’ve written a book of children’s stories. It was published in December last year—a cheap edition, which I believe has proved very popular, intended for use as a primer in schools.”

“Well!” Mrs. Croly exclaimed. “That is very interesting.”

“It was a charitable endeavour, privately funded, I was not paid for it.”

“I wasn’t paid a single cent for any of my writing when I first started out,” Miss Booth said, “and I barely made enough from the first edition of my history of New York to feed myself. If you agree to write for me, then you will be paid a fair rate.”

“Mary Louise, I saw her first! Lady Margaret, I reckon if you wrote a little column—‘A Peeress in New York’—no, we can come up with a better title than that—then I can help you sell it. Demorest’s would love to publish it, I’m sure. And they will also pay you.”

“Lady Margaret, I can top that. I could have you published in the first-anniversary edition of Harper’s Bazar which will be out in November this year. Your name will appear on the list of contributors along with Charles Dickens—”

“You haven’t signed Dickens yet.”

“I will, if I can get invited to that blasted dinner at Delmonico’s.”

“You know they won’t let us in. No women allowed.”

“Even though it is for the Press Club, and you and I are both members.”

“Even though my own husband is on the board,” Mrs. Croly said grimly.

“I am determined to find a way. However, I am equally determined,” Miss Booth said, “to recruit Lady Margaret. What do you say? You could write me a sample column on a subject of your choosing. . . .”

“I’ve already offered her the opportunity to do that.”

“How about she does both and then everybody wins?”

The two women smiled at her expectantly. “I’m very flattered but I’ve never written for the press,” Margaret demurred.