every way, a fact of which I was
secretly rather "jellus," and it did not require much imagination on my
part to picture what she would be at nineteen. I told her she was to be
the heroine of my new novel, which I truly thought would thrill
_anyone_, and I must say she was as excited as I could have wished. She
will be amused now when she reads this book!

My sister Angela's story, which she wrote at the age of eight, will
certainly be voted the most amusing of this collection. It was the first
she ever wrote, and it was followed by "Treacherous Mr.
Campbell"--another lost manuscript. A great deal of "The Jealous
Governes" she wrote herself, as will be noticed by the spelling. Other
portions were dictated to my father and mother, and I think the nurse
had a hand at it too.

My second sister, Vera, was the artist of the nursery, and drew a
wonderful poster to the only play I ever wrote, "A Woman's Crime." She
wrote one story, however. It was of a pious nature, profusely
illustrated, and entitled "Little Mary and the Angle."

Since the publication of "The Young Visiters," I have often been asked
if I don't myself think it funny. When I first discovered it--not having
seen it since it was written--I certainly did. That is one of the most
curious things about it--to be able to laugh at what one wrote in such
solemn seriousness--and that is why I can never feel all the nice things
that have been said about "The Young Visiters," are really due to me at
all, but to a Daisy Ashford of so long ago that she seems almost
another person. It has all been like a fairy tale, from the accidental
finding of the original note book to the day when, at her request, I
left a copy with my friend Miss Margaret Mackenzie, for it is to her I
really owe the publication of the book. She showed it to Mr. Frank
Swinnerton, and thus I was lucky enough to have it brought to the notice
of my present publishers in England and America.

But the real success of the book I owe to the great kindness of Sir
James Barrie in writing such a wonderful preface, and I am glad to have
this opportunity of thanking him publicly. His name gave "The Young
Visiters" a send-off and a reading which it could not have gained on its
own account and of this fact I am most deeply appreciative.

DAISY ASHFORD.

_March, 1920._

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