'He would see through you.'

'Not he!'

'You don't understand that what imposes on common folk would never
hoodwink an editor.'

'That's where you are wrong. Gentle or simple, stupid or clever,
the men are all alike in the hands of a woman that flatters them.'

'Ah, I'm sure there are better ways of getting round an editor than
that.'

'I daresay there are,' my mother would say with conviction, 'but if
you try that plan you will never need to try another.'

'How artful you are, mother - you with your soft face! Do you not
think shame?'

'Pooh!' says my mother brazenly.

'I can see the reason why you are so popular with men.'

'Ay, you can see it, but they never will.'

'Well, how would you dress yourself if you were going to that
editor's office?'

'Of course I would wear my silk and my Sabbath bonnet.'