My conclusion would be I've got no idea where Mr. Brown got his information from. He didn't get it from me.

Total coincidence, at least from our side.

I think my language was infelicitous and I think I have to agree with you on that.

Unfortunately, in this case, there are no facts.

We were writing historical conjecture, and Mr. Brown was writing a novel.

Mr. Brown was writing a novel, and these kinds of finer details of history presumably weren't at the forefront of his mind.