Miss B. Do I take all that?
P. No, of course not. I’m talking now.
Miss B. I see.
P. There are precious few authors anywhere in America, and as for the West and especially Chicago—pah!
Miss B. I suppose the best can come only from Europe.
P. Decidedly.
Miss B. America was not big enough to produce “A Romance of Two Castles.”
P. Miss Bodman, sarcasm is wasted in this office. If you do not like my book—once is sufficient to tell me. (Spitefully.) Of course, if you like Arthur Welby’s novel, “The Man from Mattoon,” you couldn’t like mine. Go on please, you have the address.
Miss B. (Tartly.) I’m waiting to go on. (Reads.) “Mr. Arthur Welby, Mt. Hope, Ill.”