XXI
"This," she said, "will acquaint you in a measure with the trustworthiness of the Princess Zimbamzim. And, if the policeman in front of her house could hear what I am going to tell you, he'd never remain there while his legs had power to run away with him."
They met by accident on Madison Square, and shook hands for the first time in many years. High in the Metropolitan Tower the chimes celebrated the occasion by sounding the half hour.
"It seems incredible," exclaimed George Z.[195] Green, "that you could have become so famous! You never displayed any remarkable ability in school."
"I never displayed any ability at all. But you did," said Williams admiringly. "How beautifully you used to write your name on the blackboard! How neat and scholarly you were in everything."
"I know it," said Green gloomily. "And you flunked in almost everything."
"In everything," admitted Williams, deeply mortified.
"And yet," said Green, "here we are at thirty odd; and I'm merely a broker, and—look what you are! Why, I can't go anywhere but I find one of your novels staring me in the face. I've been in Borneo: they're there! They're in Australia and China and Patagonia. Why the devil do you suppose people buy the stories you write?"