“What doesthatmean?” asked Corydon, trembling.
“God knows,” he answered. “I’ll go and see them this morning.”
When he came back, it was to sink into a chair and stare in front of him with a savage frown. “Don’t ask me!” he said, to Corydon. “Don’t ask!”
“Pleasetell me!” cried the girl. “Did you see them?”
“Yes,” said Thyrsis—“I saw a fat man!”
“A fat man!”
“Yes—a fat man. A fat body, and a fat mind, and a fat soul.”
“Please tell me, Thyrsis!”
“He said my book wouldn’t sell, because the public had got tired ofthat sort of thing.”
“That sort of thing!”
“It seems that people used to buy ‘historical romances’, and now they’ve stopped. The man actually thought my book was one of that kind!”
“I see. But then—couldn’t you tell him?”
“I told him. I said, ‘Can’t you see that this book i
