"Are you familiar with American literature?" I asked.
"Somewhat," said he. "I have watched the popular books in your country,
and have read some of them."
"And what books are they?" I asked.
"Well, _Quo Vadis_ and _The Prisoner of Zenda_," he replied. "They are
both excellent."
"I suppose you never read Conan Doyle," I put in, with some sarcasm. A
man who is familiar with what is popular in American literature ought to
have read Conan Doyle.
"Yes," he replied, "I have read Conan Doyle. I've read it through three
times, but I think Dr. Holmes did better work than that. His _Autograph
on the Breakfast Table_ was a much better novel than Conan Doyle, and
his poem, 'The Charge of the Light Brigade,' is a thing to be
remembered. Still, I liked Conan Doyle," he added.
"Everybody does," I said.
"Naturally. It is a novel that suggests life, blood, insight, and all
that," said my host. "But of all the books you Americans have written
the best is Mr. Thackeray's estimate of your American boulevardier. It
was named, if I remember rightly, _Tommie Fadden_. I read that with
much interest, and I do not think that Mr. Thackeray ever did anything
better, although his story of _Jane Eyre_ was very good indeed. Fadden
was such a perfect representation of your successful American, and in
reading it one can picture to one's self all the peculiar qualities of
your best society. Really, I am grateful to Mr. Thackeray for his
_Tommie Fadden_, and when you return to New York I hope you will tell
him so, with my compliments."