This also he read
to Dora.
'You wouldn't suspect they were written by the same man, eh?'
'No. You have changed the style very skilfully.'
'I doubt if they'll be much use. Most people will fling the book
down with yawns before they're half through the first volume. If
I knew a doctor who had many cases of insomnia in hand, I would
recommend "Mr Bailey" to him as a specific.'
'Oh, but it is really clever, Jasper!'
'Not a doubt of it. I half believe what I have written. And if
only we could get it mentioned in a leader or two, and so on, old
Biffen's fame would be established with the better sort of
readers. But he won't sell three hundred copies. I wonder whether
Robertson would let me do a notice for his paper?'
'Biffen ought to be grateful to you, if he knew,' said Dora,
laughing.
'Yet, now, there are people who would cry out that this kind of
thing is disgraceful. It's nothing of the kind. Speaking
seriously, we know that a really good book will more likely than
not receive fair treatment from two or three reviewers; yes, but
also more likely than not it will be swamped in the flood of
literature that pours forth week after week, and won't have
attention fixed long enough upon it to establish its repute.
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