would convey my meaning; but a shade of meaning is not sufficient
justification for the use of French titles or words, for they lessen the
taste of our language; we don't get the smack, and Milord's epigrams
poisoned my memory of _A Drama in Muslin_. But they cannot be omitted
without much re-writing, I said, and remembering my oath never to
attempt the re-writing of an old book again, I fell back on the
exclusion of _A Drama in Muslin_ as the only way out of the dilemma. A
wavering resolution was precipitated by recollection of some disgraceful
pages, but a moment after I was thinking that the omission of the book
would create a hiatus. _A Drama in Muslin_, I reflected, is a link
between two styles; and a book that has achieved any notoriety cannot be
omitted from a collected edition, so my publishers said, and they harped
on this string, until one day I flung myself out of their office and
rattled down the stairs muttering, 'What a smell of shop!' But in the
Strand near the Cecil Inn, the thought glided into my mind that the
pages that seemed so disgraceful in memory might not seem so in print,
'and the only way to find out if this be so,' the temptation continued,
'will be to ask the next policeman the way to Charing Cross Road.'
Another saw me over a dangerous crossing (London is the best policed
city in Europe), a third recommended a shop 'over yonder: you've just
passed it by, sir.' 'Thank you, thank you,' I cried back, and no sooner
was I on the other side than, overcome by shyness, as always in these
stores of dusty literature, I asked for the _Drama in Muslin_,
pronouncing the title so timidly that the bookseller guessed me at once
to be the author, and began telling of the books that were doing well in
first editions. 'If I had any I wanted to get rid of?' he mentioned
several he would be glad to buy. Whereupon in turn I grew confidential
and confided to him my present dilemma, failing, however, to dissuade
him from his opinion that _A Drama in Muslin_ ought to be included. 'Any
corrections you make in the new edition will keep up the price of the