Author _are discovered discussing the situation._
_Author (gloomily)._ And so you say that _An Oppressed Ophelia_ is a
dead failure?
_Publisher (more cheerfully)._ Yes, my dear Sir, but do not be
distressed. Thanks to my foresight, and your acquiescence in a
business-like arrangement, my firm has lost nothing by the transaction.
_Author (dryly)._ That I can readily understand! Well, I suppose you
have plenty of copies you can give back to me?
_Publisher._ Well, scarcely. You see the Londoners did not take up your
book very warmly; but we have made an arrangement to dispose of the rest
of the issue in the country at a considerable reduction.
_Author._ And _An English Hamlet_?
_Publisher._ We shall be glad to produce on the same terms!
[_Exeunt_ Author _and_ Publisher _severally._