“No! Reading—That’s rather surprising. All of them?”
“All that I could manage.”
“Some were so bad that you couldn’t worry through them, eh?” asked the other with appreciation.
“Not that. But I didn’t know the foreign languages except French, and Spanish, and a little Italian.”
“The foreign-language press, too. Remarkable!” murmured the other. “Do you mind telling me what your idea was?”
“It was simple enough. As I wanted to get on a newspaper, I thought I ought to find out what newspapers were made of.”
“Simple, as you say. Beautifully simple! So you’ve devised for yourself the little job of perfecting yourself in every department of journalism; politics, finances, criminal, sports, society; all of them, eh?”
“No; not all,” replied Banneker.
“Not? What have you left out?”
“Society news” was the answer, delivered less promptly than the other replies.