which undoubtedly indicated that the War Loaf was known to pall on the public taste even in Shakespeare’s time.
She said she had expected me to say that, it was so obvious. Nevertheless, I noticed she hurriedly jotted it down.
We asked her to read her MS. so far as she had gone; it seemed a pity for us to overlap.
“I’ve made a fair start,” she explained, “but the trouble is they all turn out so awkwardly. For instance, the first quotation I have down is—
‘She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household’
—anyone can see Daylight Saving there——”
Naturally, I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me short, testily:
“Of course I know as well as you that it isn’t Shakespeare—at least I wasn’t reared a heathen!—but that’s just the tiresome part of it. Every quotation I think of isn’t Shakespeare at all. Here’s another that would do beautifully (and take up a nice bit of space on the page too),
‘The upper air burst into life!