The _Telegraph_ would bleed copiously; the
_Observer_ would expire; the _Fortnightly Review_ would stagger in its
heavy stride, but there would be hope for Tories!... In the meantime, five
thousand copies of the English translation of "Marie Claire" were sold
within a week of publication. It is improbable that the total English sale
will be less than ten thousand. Now translated novels rarely achieve
popularity. The last one to be popular here was Fogazzaro's "The Saint";
but the popularity of "The Saint" was not due to artistic causes.
* * * * *
I think I may say that I am thoroughly accustomed to the society of women
novelists. Peculiar circumstances in my obscure life have thrown me among
women writers of all sorts; and I can boast that I have helped to form
more than one woman novelist; so that the prospect of meeting a new one
does not agitate me in the slightest degree. I make friends with the new
one at once, and in about two minutes we are discussing prices with the
most touching familiarity. Nevertheless, I own that I was somewhat
disturbed in my Midland phlegm when the author of "Marie Claire" came to
see me. The book, read in the light of the circumstances of its
composition, had unusually impressed me and stirred my imagination.
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