Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/350

 CHAPTER XVIII

AT STRATFORD-ON-AVON

A review of Marie Corelli's life from the time she left her convent-school to the present day, shapes as a record of intellectual activity rather than one of movement or incident of an anecdotal nature. But although the novelist has never actually gone out of her way to study local color, she has traveled all over Europe; as, during her stepfather's long illness and the constant strain of anxiety entailed upon her by his condition, it was necessary for her to take at least one month's rest and change of air in the course of each year. These annual holidays were spent in various parts of Europe—in France, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, and Germany—and during her travels she was never idle, but always at work recording notes of scenes, seasons, and events. The locale of Combmartin was carefully studied by her before she ever wrote "The Mighty Atom"; and, as the many tourists who have visited the neighborhood since on account of the story can testify, both that village