Edition followed edition and "Reuben Hallard" was the novel
of the spring of 1896.
The effect of all this upon Peter may easily be imagined. It came to
him first, with those early reviews and an encouraging letter from the
publishers, as something that did not belong to him at all, then after a
month or so it belonged to him so completely that he felt as though he had
been used to it all his life. Then slowly, as the weeks passed and the
success continued, he knew that the publication of this book had changed
the course of his life. Letters from agents and publishers asking for his
next novel, letters from America, letters from unknown readers, all these
things showed him that he could look now towards countries that had not,
hitherto, been enclosed by his horizon. He breathed another air.
And yet he was astonishingly simple about it all--very young and very
naive. The two things that he felt about it were, first, that it would
please very much his friends--Bobby and his wife, Mrs. Brockett, Norah
Monogue, Mr. Zanti, Herr Gottfried and, above all, Stephen; and secondly,
that all those early years in Cornwall--the beatings, his mother, Scaw
House, even Dawson's--had been of use to him. One remembers those
extraordinary chapters concerning Reuben and his father--here Peter had,
for the first time, allowed some expression of his attitude to it all to
escape him.
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