ay that is nonsense. It is a prurient mind that
only sees evil in a situation of the sort. Why it should be desirable to
make a young man and woman commit a misdemeanor to secure the praise of
a critic is beyond imagination. It would be easy enough to do. I did it
in The Right of Way. I did it in others of my books. What happens to one
man and one woman does not necessarily happen to another. There are men
who, for love of a woman, would not take advantage of her insecurity.
There are others who would. In my books I have made both classes do
their will, and both are true to life. It does not matter what one book
is or is not, but it does matter that an author writes his book with a
sense of the fitting and the true.

Both these books were written to present that side of life in Canada
which is not wintry and forbidding. There is warmth of summer in both
tales, and thrilling air and the beauty of the wild countryside. As for
the cold, it is severe in most parts of Canada, but the air is dry, and
the sharpness is not felt as it is in this damper climate of England.
Canadians feel the cold of a March or November day in London far more
than the cold of a day in Winnipeg, with the thermometer many degrees
below zero. Both these books present the summer side of Canada, which is
as delightful as that of any climate in the world; both show the modern
western life which is greatly changed since the days when Pierre
roamed the very fields where these tales take place. It should never
be forgotten that British Columbia has a climate like that of England,
where, on the Coast, it is never colder than here, and where there is
rain instead of snow in winter.

There is much humour and good nature in the West, and this also I tried
to bring out in these two books; and Askatoon is as cosmopolitan as
London. Canada in the West has all races, and it was consistent of me to
give a Chinaman of noble birth a part to play in the tragicomedy. I
have a great respect for the Chinaman, and he is a good servant and a
faithful friend. Such a Chinaman as Li Choo I knew in British Columbia,
and all I did was to throw him on the Eastern side of the Rockies, a few
miles from the border of the farthest Western province. The Chinaman's
death was faithful in its detail, and it was true to his nature. He had
to die, and with the old pagan philosophy, still practised in China
and Japan, he chose the better way, to his mind. Princes still destroy
themselves