Dick sprang to his feet, and then sat down, controlling himself.
"Well," he said coldly, "it makes no difference. It is too late to do anything about it now. An edition of 'Love in a Cloud' with my name on the title-page comes out next Wednesday. If folks say too much about the resemblance to your books, I can confess, I suppose, my part in the others."
She turned upon him with a burst of surprise and indignation which set all her ribbon-ends waving in protest.
"That," she said, "is a professional secret. No man of honor would tell it."
She rose as she spoke, her face full of indignation.
"You have not treated me fairly," she said bitterly. "You must have seen that the book was attributed to me, and you knew the connection between 'Love in a Cloud' and my other books—"
"Other books!" exclaimed Dick.
Mrs. Croydon waved him into silence with a magnificent gesture, but beyond that took no notice of his words.
"You saw how everybody looked at me that day at Mrs. Harbinger's," she went on. "If you were going to give your name to the book why didn't you do it then?"
"I didn't think of you at all," was his answer. "I was too much amused in seeing that absurd Barnstable make a fool of himself with Count Shimbowski. Did you know that the Count actually challenged him?"