“Read it? why, hang it, I wrote it.”
“You wrote it? The deuce you did! I always thought I was the author of ——”
“So you are. But didn’t I take it all down in shorthand, and didn’t I whack it out on the type-writer, and didn’t I go over the proof sheets with you. And yet you ask me if I have read it!”
“Oh, yes, quite right, I see what you mean. Well, if you paid as much attention to the arguments as you did to the mechanical production of the book, I should think you would not ask if I really meant what I said.”
“Oh, I suppose you meant it all right enough—in a way—in theory, perhaps, but——”
“My dear sir, allow me to say that a theory which is not practical, is simply no theory at all. The great success of ‘Gazing Upward,’ has been due to the fact that it is an eminently practical work. The nationalization of everything is not a matter of theory. The ideas advocated in that book, can be seen at work at any time. Look at the Army, look at the Post Office.”
“Oh, that’s all right, looking at things in bulk. Let us come down to practical details. Detail is the real test of any scheme. Take this volume, ‘Gazing Upward.’ Now, may I ask how much this book has netted you up to date?”
“Oh, I don’t know exactly. Somewhere in the neighborhood of £20,000.”
“Very well then. Now let us look for a moment at the method by which that book was produced. You walked up and down this room with your hands behind your back, and dictated chapter after chapter, and I sat at this table taking it all down in shorthand. Then you went out and took the air while I industriously whacked it out on the type-writer.”
“I wish you wouldn’t say ‘whacked,’ Scriver. That’s twice you’ve used it.”