Speedily a second edition was
called for; then, after a brief interval, a third edition--this time
a rational one-volume affair; and the whole lot--6,000 I believe--
went off on the day of publication. Derrick was amazed; but he
enjoyed his success very heartily, and I think no one could say that
he had leapt into fame at a bound.
Having devoured 'At Strife,' people began to discover the merits of
'Lynwood's Heritage;' the libraries were besieged for it, and a
cheap edition was hastily published, and another and another, till
the book, which at first had been such a dead failure, rivalled 'At
Strife.' Truly an author's career is a curious thing; and precisely
why the first book failed, and the second succeeded, no one could
explain.
It amused me very much to see Derrick turned into a lion--he was so
essentially un-lion-like. People were for ever asking him how he
worked, and I remember a very pretty girl setting upon him once at a
dinner-party with the embarrassing request:
"Now, do tell me, Mr. Vaughan, how do you write stories? I wish you
would give me a good receipt for a novel."
Derrick hesitated uneasily for a minute; finally, with a humorous
smile, he said:
"Well, I can't exactly tell you, because, more or less, novels grow;
but if you want a receipt, you might perhaps try after this
fashion:--Conceive your hero, add a sprinkling of friends and
relatives, flavour with whatever scenery or local colour you please,
carefully consider what circumstances are most likely to develop
your man into the best he is capable of, allow the whole to simmer
in your brain as long as you can, and then serve, while hot, with
ink upon white or blue foolscap, according to taste.
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