"You will remember, ma'am, that I never suggested--indeed I never
thought of such a thing!"

"I do not forget. It was your mother who drew my attention to the
verses."

"I must speak to my mother!" he said, in a meditative way.

"You can not object to _my_ seeing your work! She does not show it to
everybody. It is most creditable to you, such an employment of your
leisure."

"The poem was never meant for any eyes but my own--except my brother's."

"What was the good of writing it, if no one was to see it?"

"The writing of it, ma'am."

"For the exercise, you mean?"

"No; I hardly mean that."

"I am afraid then I do not understand you."

"Do _you_ never write anything but what you publish?"

"Publish! _I_ never publish! What made you think of such a thing?"

"That you know so much about it, ma'am."