Author, I applaud your observation when 5? (5)

I haven't cracked this one yet — but the brilliant team at Fifteensquared have:

I’ve stumbled at the first hurdle: the author is H.G. Wells and ‘Well said’ could mean ‘I applaud your observation’ but I can see no instruction to remove those particular letters Edit: thanks to Wallyzed @8 – it’s WELLSPOTTED!