"It's perfectly easy, really," said Vaughan; "it's just a knack."
"Is it though?"
"That's all."
"How do you get the things taken?"
"Oh, that's a mere fluke—a bit of luck," said Vaughan.
Every one who heard this sighed with relief to think that was how he regarded it.
Vaughan always used this exaggerated modesty as an armour against envy, for envy, as a rule, is of success rather than of merit. No one would have objected to his talent deserving recognition—only to his getting it.
"Now what do you think of Miss Luscombe?" Valentia asked the dramatist.
"I don't think of her. I never regard people on the stage as real people," Vaughan answered.
"Don't you, really? Well, you ought to know. You have made a sort of corner in 'leading ladies'. What curious clothes she wears!"