Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/61

 book, any more than it matters what name any firmly established author fixes upon; but a new writer can seldom afford to despise the gentle art of alliteration or the appellation which appeals to the eye, ear, and imagination.

Both Dr. Charles Mackay and his son George Eric were appealed to by the young beginner in that literary career to which they were both accustomed. Both demanded a reading of the manuscript that they might be guided by its contents as to the title. But Marie refused to show her manuscript to any one. She told her stepfather that he would only "laugh at her silly fancies." She would not let George Eric read it, because she wanted to surprise him by quoting some of his poetry in the book from the "Love-Letters of a Violinist," which title she, by-the-bye, had suggested. She said her story was "about this world and the next," whereupon Dr. Mackay, who happened to be reading Lewis Morris's "Songs of Two Worlds" at the time, suggested "A Romance of Two Worlds."

So, as "A Romance of Two Worlds," the book appeared. Up to this time Miss Corelli had naturally had no experience with reviewers. She had heard of them, of course, being a member of a literary household, and she had every reason to