28
THE AUTHOR OF "TRIXIE"
very dull a topic. May I ask what, precisely, it is?"
"I'll tell you," said the Archdeacon, "if you'll give me your word of honour as a gentleman that what I say shall go no further."
"Yes," said Dunkle, "I'll do that. Proceed, my dear sir. Proceed."
"Well," said the Archdeacon, "I have written one."
"You?" cried the young man, opening his eyes very wide. "You, Archdeacon? You have written a novel? Well, I'm blowed! What on earth possessed you to do such a frightfully commonplace thing?"
The Archdeacon, beginning with the observation of the Bishop of Pontefract in the Athenæum Club, told him all about it. Dunkle sipped port and listened without saying a word.
