DEAREST THERESA, Sorry you did not come; hope for better luck Thursday. I have had a _passage at arms_ with old Bentley, who has dawdled over the “Auckland Correspondence”[568] till he says it is now too late for the publication this season, and it will not appear till October; but that this is the best time for a work of fiction, and he wanted mine instantly. I wrote him a coldly savage letter, conveying all sorts of reproaches in political terms, and saying that, as of course he could not undertake a second book till he had done with the first, and as I was in a hurry, I must accept the offer of some other publisher (I have had several offers). Whereupon he rushed down here early this morning and told Lena he was “a persecuted victim,” that he would bring out the _Semi-Detached_[569] in a month, and that he must have it, etc. He offered only _£_250, and I really will not take less than _£_300. Lena told him so afterwards, and he said he dared to say that there would be no difficulty about terms if he could talk it over with you. So mind you stick to £300 and a very early publication. I really do want the money, for poor Richard Wellesley has been obliged to resign, and they are ordered to winter abroad for the winter and will have some difficulty in managing it, so I want to be able to help them. Dear little Mary is a greater darling than ever. Ever your affectionate E. EDEN. _Miss Eden to Lady Charlotte Greville._ CHILD’S HILL, HAMPSTEAD, [_August_] _Saturday, 1859_. So like you, dearest, to think of sending that review, which I thought very flattering. Lena had already picked it up at a neighbour’s house, and I am told it is a great help to a book to be reviewed by the _Globe_. A review in _The Times_, even unfavourable, is supposed by publishers to ensure a second edition, but _The Times_ does not stoop to single volume novels. “Semi” has had more success than I require, and considerably more than I expected. It gave me real pleasure to think that I had amused you. That, and a kind note from Lord Lansdowne, who said that the book had been a great amusement to him in his convalescence, gave me intense gratification. Altogether, people have been marvellously good-natured about it, and if ever I write another story, which is not very likely, I shall call it “The Good-natured World.” I really do think that, though we all carp in a petty childish way at each other, that there is an immense amount of solid _bienveillance_ in constant circulation; only we do not think about the kindness we meet with, till we actually want it, and then we see the amount and the value of it.