"Oh, come, Mr. Gregory, you're right ... quite right ... I had no right whatever to speak to you as I have—
"But please interpret it as my serious concern over your career as a poet ... it seems such a pity ... you had such a good start."
"You mean?—" I began, and halted.
"Precisely ... I mean that for the next two or three years all the reputable magazines will not dare consider even a masterpiece from your hands."
"In other words, if Shelley were alive to-day and were the same Shelley, he would be presented with a like boycott?"
"If his manner of living came out in the papers—yes."
"And François Villon?"
"Undoubtedly."
"I'm in good company then, am I not?"
"You should thank me for being frank with you."