"And have you read it, Miss Dunbar?" inquired Mr. Hopworthy, almost letting slip one anchor.
"No," she replied, "but I have laid it aside to read. I shall do so now with added pleasure."
"Unless the author would consent to tell it to us in his own inspired words——" said Mr. Hopworthy, regarding his boot toe with interest. Miss Dunbar caught at the suggestion.
"Oh, do!" she pleaded. "I should so love to hear a story told by the author."
"An experience to remember," murmured Mr. Hopworthy.
"I am afraid it would be rather too long to tell this afternoon," demurred the author, with a glance of apprehension toward the sky.
"But you dashed it off in twenty minutes," the other man reminded him.
"That is another reason," said the writer. "Work done with such rapidity is apt to leave but a slight impression on the memory."
"Perhaps a little turn about the grounds——" suggested Mr. Hopworthy.