"
(Ethelbertha intended to be complimentary, I am convinced; but there is a
looseness about her mode of expression which, at times, renders her
meaning obscure.)
When, however, I told her that my friend Jephson was going to collaborate
with me, she remarked, "Oh," in a doubtful tone; and when I further went
on to explain to her that Selkirk Brown and Derrick MacShaughnassy were
also going to assist, she replied, "Oh," in a tone which contained no
trace of doubtfulness whatever, and from which it was clear that her
interest in the matter, as a practical scheme, had entirely evaporated.
I fancy that the fact of my three collaborators being all bachelors
diminished somewhat our chances of success, in Ethelbertha's mind.
Against bachelors, as a class, she entertains a strong prejudice. A
man's not having sense enough to want to marry, or, having that, not
having wit enough to do it, argues to her thinking either weakness of
intellect or natural depravity, the former rendering its victim unable,
and the latter unfit, ever to become a really useful novelist.
I tried to make her understand the peculiar advantages our plan
possessed.
"You see," I explained, "in the usual commonplace novel we only get, as a
matter of fact, one person's ideas. Now, in this novel, there will be
four clever men all working together.
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