Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/163



give us one of his favorite melodies. God provides good things for men in music and books and flowers, and when His fellow-men disappoint Him, or die around Him, it is something to be able to enjoy the melody of Mozart and to live with the grand old ghosts who, disembodied, flit about the old library."

The influence of the kindly advice George Bentley dealt out to the young novelist cannot be overestimated. Was she upset by a criticism, he came to her aid with good humored badinage and sympathy; was she despondent, he laughed away the mood and bade "Thelma" be herself again! Always, indeed, he urged her to be herself—to embody in her books the message so nobly delivered by a poet:

"Stand upright, speak thy thought, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere; They only live who dare."