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 CHAPTER XII

"THE MASTER CHRISTIAN"—IF CHRIST CAME TO ROME!

There had been a considerable pause in the writings of Miss Corelli, for reasons which have already been discussed, when, in August, 1900, "The Master Christian" appeared.

Miss Corelli commenced "The Master Christian" at Brighton on All Saints' Day, 1897, in the hope that she would get through it before the terrible illness she had been suffering from for seven years reached an acute stage. The novelist, however, was almost dying on Christmas Eve of the same year, and on December 29th the surgeons took her in hand. She was dangerously ill during January, February, and March, 1898. In April and May Miss Corelli was just beginning to recover when the shock occasioned by her stepbrother's death on June 2d produced a relapse, and she very nearly died from grief and weakness combined. She was ill all the rest of the year, and, a long period of convalescence following, she did not resume "The Master Christian" till the spring of 1899.