Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/12

 "Romance"—Its Reception by the Public, and its Effect on Readers—Marie Corelli and the Supernatural—Synopsis of Plot—Heliobas and his "Electric Creed"—X-Rays and Wireless Telegraphy foretold in this Book     48

CHAPTER IV

"VENDETTA" AND "THELMA"

Mr. Bentley's Opinion of "Vendetta"—Practically a True Story of Naples during the Cholera Epidemic of 1884—The Remarkable Ingenuity of its Construction—The Novelist's Habit of Creating a Pretty Picture only to Destroy it, as Exemplified by the Opening Chapters of "Vendetta" and After Events—The Appalling Ferocity of Count Fabio and the Culminating Scene of his Vengeance.

Mr. Bentley's Enthusiastic Comments on "Thelma"—The Story Compared with "She," to the Latter's Disadvantage—A Romantic Setting—The Main Theme of the Book—Thelma's Bewilderment at the Hollowness of Society—Her Husband's Alleged Unfaithfulness—Her Flight to Norway and the Sequel—Miss Corelli's "Unsparing Brush"—The Weak Spot in the Book—Thelma's Winning Personality     64

CHAPTER V

"ARDATH"

Its Theme—Congratulations from Lord Tennyson—A suggested Corelli City in Colorado—An Example of the Novelist's Descriptive Powers—Theos Alwyn, Agnostic—His Interview with Heliobas—The Dream and the Poem—The Field of Ardath—The City of Al-Kyris—Sah-Lûma, the Poet Laureate—The Religion of Al-Kyris—Lysia, High Priestess of the God-Serpent—The Prophet Khosrûl and his Predictions—The Fall of Al-Kyris—The Awakening of Alwyn and his Return to London—The Converted Poet—"Ardath" a Book for all who Doubt—Six Tests for Spiritualists     79