II 



Jane Admires 



There is more than one famous instance of a guest 

 arriving for one night and staying for years. I have 

 arranged for Jane to stay, at any rate, until the 

 book is finished, for already she has shown the 

 most intelligent appreciation ; as, of course, she 

 was likely to do, being my own invention ; but 

 that is not so very certain either, for I am sure 

 the characters in fiction do not always or altogether 

 approve of their authors, and often, at nights, there 

 are meetings in the study of gentlemen and ladies 

 of all periods, and many votes of censure are passed. 

 At such gatherings, if anywhere, you will find sound 

 criticism, though here and there it must be vitiated 

 by personal grievance. They know their authors 

 through and through, and their lives suffer from the 

 weaknesses of their creators, and too often they 

 have been misrepresented or made to act in violent 

 contradiction to their natures. They protest, and 

 it is very entertaining to hear Steerforth on Charles 

 Dickens, and Jekyll and Hyde squabbling about 



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