VIII + 

And I read it with an augmenting irritation. Here was my great and comely idea transmuted by “George Glock”⁠—which was the woman’s foolish pen-name⁠—into a rather clever melodrama, and set forth anyhow, in a hit or miss style that fairly made me squirm. I would cheerfully have strangled Marian Winwood just then, and not upon the count of larceny, but of butchery. + 

“And to cap it all, she has assigned her hero every pretty speech I ever made to her! I honestly believe the rogue took shorthand jottings on her cuffs. ‘There is a land where lovers may meet face to face, and heart to heart, and mouth to mouth’⁠—why, that’s the note I wrote her on the day she wasn’t feeling well!” + 

Presently, however, I began to laugh, and presently sitting there alone, I began to applaud as if I were witnessing a play that took my fancy. + 

“Oh, the adorable jade!” I said; and then: “George Glock, forsooth! George Dandin, tu l’ as voulu.” + 