e it ill or well said, is the candid and independent
expression of a thought which I will have uttered at all risks.

In this spirit I wrote my first book, 'A Romance of Two Worlds,' now in
its seventh edition. It was the simply worded narration of a singular
psychical experience, and included certain theories on religion which I,
personally speaking, accept and believe. I had no sort of literary pride
in my work whatsoever; there was nothing of self in the wish I had, that
my ideas, such as they were, should reach the public, for I had no
particular need of money, and certainly no hankering after fame. When
the book was written I doubted whether it would ever find a publisher,
though I determined to try and launch it if possible. My notion was to
offer it to Arrowsmith as a shilling railway volume, under the title
'Lifted Up.' But in the interim, as a kind of test of its merit or
demerit, I sent the MS. to Mr. George Bentley, head of the
long-established and famous Bentley publishing firm. It ran the gauntlet
of his 'readers' first, and they all advised its summary rejection.
Among these 'readers' at that time was Mr. Hall Caine. His strictures on
my work were peculiarly bitter, though, strange to relate, he afterwards
forgot the nature of his own report. For, on being introduced to me at a
ball given by Miss Eastlake, when my name was made and my success
assured, he blandly remarked, before a select circle of interested
auditors, that he 'had had the pleasure of _recommending_' my first book
to Mr. Bentley! Comment on this were needless and unkind: he tells
stories so admirably that I readily excuse him for his 'slip of memory,'
and accept the whole incident as a delightful example of his inventive
faculty.

His severe judgment pronounced upon me, combined with similar, but
perhaps milder, severity on the part of the other 'readers,' had,
however, an unexpected result. Mr. George Bentley, moved by curiosity,
and possibly by compassion for the impending fate of a young woman so
'sat upon' by his selected censors, decided to read my MS. himself.
Happily for me, the consequence of his unprejudiced and impartial
perusal was acceptance; and I still keep the kind and encouraging letter
he wrote to me at the time, informing me of his decision, and stating
the terms of his offer. These terms were, a sum down for one year's
rights, the copyright of the work to remain my own entire property. I
did not then understand what an a