Knowles suddenly looked grave. "Well, at the moment, I had much rather not tell you."
"Really? Well, I suppose I shall know some day."
Knowles looked as if he were struggling with an unpleasant duty, and it were getting the better of him.
"Not from me, I'm afraid. It will be the first work of yours I have left unnoticed. As I can't review it favourably, I prefer not to notice it at all."
"You surely don't suppose that I came here to fish for a review?"
"I do not."
"Thanks. I don't deny that I should have appreciated the public expression of your opinion, favourable or unfavourable. But I respect your scruples as far as I understand them. The only thing is——"
He paused; it was his turn to feel uncomfortable.
"Is what?"
"Well, after the way you've delivered yourself on my other books, which are feebleness itself compared with this one, I must say your present attitude astonishes me."