away the whole case by handing me, with impressive simplicity and
courtesy, his TWO copies of the precious statement. And I believe
that if he had succeeded in securing ten, he would have handed
them all back to me with the most sincere conviction that every
one of the ten must prove a crushing addition to the weight of my
discomfiture. I still cherish that second copy, a little blue-
bound pamphlet, methodically autographed "Lockwood B" among my
most valued literary trophies.

An innocent lady told me afterwards that she never knew that I
could smile so beautifully, and that she thought it shewed very
good taste on my part. I was not conscious of smiling; but I
should have embraced the Colonel had I dared. As it was, I turned
expectantly to his colleagues, mutely inviting them to follow his
example. But there was only one Colonel Lockwood on that
Committee. No eye met mine except minority eyes, dancing with
mischief. There was nothing more to be said. I went home to my
morning's work, and returned in the afternoon to receive the
apologies of the minority for the conduct of the majority, and to
see Mr Granville Barker, overwhelmed by the conscience-stricken
politeness of the now almost abject Committee, and by a powerful
smell of carnations, heading the long list of playwrights who
came there to testify against the censorship, and whose
treatment, I am happy to say, was everything they could have
desired.

After all, ridiculous as the scene was, Colonel Lockwood's
simplicity and courage were much more serviceable to his
colleagues than their own inept coup de theatre would have been
if he had not spoiled it. It was plain to every one that he had