“No; you didn’t say so.”
“No. As a matter of fact I don’t like it. Dear me, no! Not at all. Where did you get the idea?” asked Mr. Gaines abruptly.
“The plot?”
“No; no. Not the plot. The plot is nothing. The idea of choosing such an environment and doing the story in that way.”
“From The New Era Magazine.”
“I begin to see. You have been studying the magazine.”
“Yes. Since I first had the idea of trying to write for it.”
“Flattered, indeed!” said Mr. Gaines dryly. “And you modeled yourself upon—what?”
“I wrote the type of story which the magazine runs to.”
“Pardon me. You did not. You wrote, if you will forgive me, an imitation of that type. Your story has everything that we strive for except reality.”