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RS. WALFORD, whose full name is Lucy Bethia Walford, the popular author of "Mr. Smith," "The Baby's Grandmother," "The Mischief of Monica," and many other novels known to every reader, is the daughter of the second son of Sir James Colquhoun of Luss, tenth Baronet of the name and author of a book well known to sportsmen, "The Moor and the Loch," who married Miss Frances Fuller-Maitland, a lady of marked literary gifts. Mrs. Walford began to write at a very early age, but simply for the joy of writing, everything she wrote before the age of twenty being burnt as soon as written, unseen by any eye except her own. It was not until four years after her marriage, in 1869, to Mr. Alfred Saunders Walford that "Mr. Smith" was written. The beauty of the book—and, indeed, "Mr. Smith" is quite unique in its own line—struck the public strongly, and its writer started on the long career of popularity which has ever since continued to increase. Her home, Cranbrooke Hall, in Essex, is one of those delightful old places which combine the rest and retirement of the country with every facility for taking part in the busy life of the metropolis.