Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/365

 *mand a wide following among the native peoples of India. She is extremely popular in Norway and Sweden, and "Vendetta!" in its Italian translation is always the vogue in Italy, as is the French version of "Absinthe" ("Wormwood") in France. There is no country where her name is unknown, and no European city, where, if she chances to pass through, she is not besieged with visitors and waylaid with offerings of flowers. Were she to visit Australia or New Zealand she would receive an almost "royal" welcome, so great is the enthusiasm in the "New World" for anything that comes from her pen.

Marie Corelli's acquaintances are many in number, but her circle of friends is a small and carefully selected one. Shakespeare's "He that is thy friend indeed" can be applied, even in the case of a popular novelist, to but few persons. Where Miss Corelli is, there always is her devoted friend Miss Vyver. Between these two there is perfect understanding and absolute sympathy. It goes without saying that, until the day of his death, Dr. Mackay held chief place in his adopted daughter's heart, and, though dead, holds it still. The kind old publisher, George Bentley, was, perhaps, owing to his unceasing sympathy and delicate appreciation of her nature, the best friend Marie Corelli ever had outside her own family circle.