I nodded.

"Did she like it?" I asked.

Mr. Gilkowsky looked at me closely.

"She did," he said, but not so enthusiastically as I had expected.

"It's her favorite book. Now, I don't know what your scheme is, and I
suppose you know what you are doing better than I do; but I thought
perhaps I had better come around before I got to work on the
illustrations and see if perhaps you hadn't given me the wrong
manuscript."

"No, that was the right manuscript," I said. "Was there anything wrong
about it?"

Mr. Gilkowsky laughed nervously.

"Oh, no!" he said. "But did you read it?"

I told him I had not because I had been so rushed with details connected
with advertising the book.

"Well," he said, "I'll tell you. This girl of mine reads pretty trashy
stuff, and she knows about all the cheap novels there are. She dotes on
'The Duchess,' and puts her last dime into Braddon. She knows them all
by heart. Have you ever read 'Lady Audley's Secret'?"

"I see," I said. "One is a sequel to the other."