Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Carol David and the PG Online
Distributed Proofreading Team
First Edition, 1901
Second Edition (entirely rewritten), 1909
A weaver goes to the mart with a divided tapestry, and with half ineither hand he walks about telling that whoever possesses one must,perforce, possess the other for the sake of the story. Butallegories are out of place in popular editions; they require linenpaper, large margins, uncut edges; even these would be insufficient;only illuminated vellum can justify that which is never read. Soperhaps it will be better if I abandon the allegory and tell whathappened: how one day after writing the history of "Evelyn Innes"for two years I found myself short of paper, and sought vainly for asheet in every drawer of the writing-table; every one had beenturned into manuscript, and "Evelyn Innes" stood nearly two feethigh.
"Five hundred pages at least," I said, "and only half of my storyfinished…. This is a matter, on which I need the publisher'sopinion."
Ten minutes after I was rolling away in a hansom towards PaternosterSquare, very anxious to persuade him that the way out of mydifficulty would be to end the chapter I was then writing on a fullclose.
"That or a novel of a thousand pages," I said.
"A novel of a thousand pages!" he answered. "Impossible! We mustdivide the book." It may have been to assuage the disappointment heread on my face that he added, "You'll double your money."
My publisher had given way too easily, and my artistic conscienceforthwith began to trouble me, and has never ceased troubling mesince that fatal day. The book the publisher puts asunder the authormay not bring together, and I shall write to no purpose in onepreface that "Evelyn Innes" is not a prelude to "Sister Teresa" andin another that "Sister Teresa" is not a sequel to "Evelyn Innes."Nor will any statement of mine made here or elsewhere convince theeditors of newspapers and reviews to whom this book will be sent forcriticism that it is not a revised edition of a book written tenyears ago, but an entirely new book written within the last eighteenmonths; the title will deceive them, and my new book will be thrownaside or given to a critic with instructions that he may notice itin ten or a dozen lines. Nor will the fact that "Evelyn Innes"occupies a unique place in English literature cause them to orderthat the book shall be reread and reconsidered—a unique place Ihasten to add which it may easily lose to-morrow, for the claim madefor it is not one of merit, but of kind.
"Evelyn Innes" is a love story, the first written in English forthree hundred years, and the only one we have in prose narrative.For this assertion not to seem ridiculous it must be remembered thata love story is not one in which love is used as an ingredient; ifthat were so nearly all novels would be love stories; even Scott'shistorical novels could not be excluded. In the true love story loveis the exclusive theme; and perhaps the reason why love stories areso rare in literature is because the difficulty of maintaining theinterest is so great; probably those in existence were writtenwithout intention to write love stories. Mine certainly was. Themanuscript of this book was among the printers before it broke on meone evening as I hung over the fire that what I had written was atrue love story about a man and a woman who meet to love each other,who