"I am very particular, you see, to whom I sell."
"Why?" demanded Sir Percival, taking snuff with a graceful flourish.
"Because I write for the masses and classes, not for the asses," replied Moore, as pleasantly as though paying a delicate compliment to the nobleman.
Sir Percival recognized that the first point had been scored by his hitherto despised rival, and rallied gamely, as became a gentleman of blood and breeding.
"That last accounts for your unpopularity with your fellow-countrymen," he suggested.
"Oh, they are not the asses I alluded to, Sir Percival."
"Perhaps you intended that for me, then?"
"Does a fellow feeling make you wondrous kind?" asked Moore, innocently.
"Hum. Rather clever, Moore," said Sir Percival, planning a particularly nasty retort, which he was prevented from delivering by Bessie's approach.
"How is my little schoolmistress to-day?" he said, winningly, to the girl.