Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/188

 that the wayfaring man, though a fool, could not fail in identifying it. Mavis Clare, whose initials it may be remarked are the same as those of the authoress, represents Marie Corelli's ideal of what she would like to be, but isn't; what in her more exalted moments she imagines herself to be. It is somewhat touching to see this attempt at self-portraiture." The suggestion thus put forward, that Mavis Clare was a deliberate portrait of Miss Marie Corelli, was at once accepted by the public—be it said to the credit of the public, who, having read her books, must have been instilled with the accurate idea that the talented author must be good and true, like Mavis Clare. Color was naturally lent to the suggestion of her deliberate self-portraiture by the similarity of the initials, and also of the circumstances of Miss Corelli and the lady of the story.

Nothing, however, was further from Miss Corelli's thoughts or intentions than this, and the similarity of the initials was purely accidental. The name was written in the manuscript and appeared in the proofs as "Mavis Dare" and not Mavis Clare. Not only just before the book went to press, but actually whilst it was in the press, the second name was suddenly altered, because it was pointed out to