264 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



the demand among novel readers for "the 

 happy ending." Now, in really great books — in 

 an epic like Milton's, in dramas like those of 

 iEschylus and Sophocles — I am entirely willing 

 to accept and even demand tragedy, and also 

 in some poetry that cannot be called great, but 

 not in good, readable novels, of sufficient length 

 to enable me to get interested in the hero and 

 heroine ! 



There is enough of horror and grimness and 

 sordid squalor in real life with which an active 

 man has to grapple; and when I turn to the 

 world of literature — of books considered as 

 books, and not as instruments of my profession 

 — I do not care to study suffering unless for 

 some sufficient purpose. It is only a very ex- 

 ceptional novel which I will read if He does not 

 marry Her; and even in exceptional novels I 

 much prefer this consummation. I am not de- 

 fending my attitude. I am merely stating it. 



Therefore it would be quite useless for me to 

 try to explain why I read certain books. As to 

 how and when, my answers must be only less 

 vague. I almost always read a good deal in the 

 evening; and if the rest of the evening is oc- 

 cupied I can at least get half an hour before 

 going to bed. But all kinds of odd moments 

 turn up during even a busy day, in which it is 



