"O Captain Ladds!" this was one of two ladies, she who had read up the new book before coming to the dinner, and had so far an advantage over the other—"that is just like one of the wicked things, the delightfully wicked things, in the Little Sphere. Now we know which of the two did the wicked things."
"It was the other man," said Ladds.
"Is it fair to ask," the lady went on, "how you wrote the book?"
She was one of those who, could she get the chance, would ask Messieurs Erckmann and Chatrian themselves to furnish her with a list of the paragraphs and the ideas due to each in their last novel.
Ladds looked as if the question was beyond his comprehension.
At last he answered slowly—
"Steel pen. The other man had a gold pen."
"No—no; I mean did you write one chapter and your collaborateur the next, or how?"
"Let me think it over," replied Ladds, as if it were a conundrum.
Mrs. Cassilis came to the rescue.