[Illustration: GEORGE DU MAURIER] Personalia A London correspondent of the Philadelphia _Press_ furnishes some interesting notes of a talk with Mr. du Maurier. Concerning literary practice, the artist-novelist said that "Peter Ibbetson" was absolutely the first story he ever wrote. "And yet," he added, "I have in one sense been writing stories all my life. Every one of my pictures, for example, has had under it a story condensed to the smallest possible space. The necessity of condensing my description and dialogue has been of great benefit to me in writing my two novels." As for "Trilby," Mr. du Maurier said that his earliest conception of the story was quite different from the one he finally worked out. "I had first thought of Trilby as a girl of very low birth--a servant, or something like that. Then it occurred to me that it would be much better to make her interesting--to create a person who would be liked by readers. As a good many people seem to be fond of 'Trilby' now, I am very glad, indeed, that I made the change." And he declared further that the character of Trilby was not a study from life, but wholly imaginary. It was Henry James who suggested to the artist that he should write novels. [Illustration: _BY HIMSELF_ FROM HARRY FURNISS'S "LIKA-JOKO"] "It was one day while we were walking together on Hampstead Heath. We were talking about storywriting, and I said to him:--'If I were a writer, it seems to me that I should have no difficulty about plots. I have in my head now plots for fifty stories. I'm always working them out for my own amusement.' 'Well,' he said, 'it seems to me that you are a very fortunate person; I wish you'd tell me one of those plots.' Then I told him the story of 'Trilby.'" "Yes, he praised it very generously. 'Well,' I said, 'you may have the idea and work it out to your own satisfaction.' But he refused to accept it. 'You must write it yourself,' he said: 'I'm sure you can do it, if you'll only try.' But I insisted that I couldn't, and so we left the matter. But that night after going home it occurred to me that it would be worth while trying to write, after all. So on the impulse I sat down and began to work. It was not on 'Trilby,' however, but on 'Peter Ibbetson.' I kept at it for a time, but after doing several chapters I became utterly discouraged, and said to myself one evening:--'Oh, I can't do anything with this. It's a mad story. It's utter rubbish.' Then I took up the sheets and was just about to throw them into the fire when I thought I'd keep them for another day and think the thing over. That night in bed, while I was worrying about the impossibility of going on with the tale, the solution of my difficulty suddenly occurred to me. 'I'll make the hero mad,' I cried to myself, 'that will put everything right.' So the next day I wrote the introduction, explaining Peter's madness, and after that I went on with the work to the end without any more trouble."