But there is the
drawback on the system,--that it is almost impossible to avoid the
necessity of doing, sooner or later, that which would naturally be
done at first. It answers, perhaps, for a half-a-dozen chapters;--
and to carry the reader pleasantly for half-a-dozen chapters is a
great matter!-but after that a certain nebulous darkness gradually
seems to envelope the characters and the incidents. 'Is all this
going on in the country, or is it in town,--or perhaps in the
Colonies? How old was she? Was she tall? Is she fair? Is she
heroine-like in her form and gait? And, after all, how high was
the garret window? I have always found that the details would
insist on being told at last, and that by rushing 'in media res' I
was simply presenting the cart before the horse. But as readers
like the cart the best, I will do it once again,--trying it only
for a branch of my story,--and will endeavour to let as little as
possible of the horse be seen afterwards.
'And so poor Frank has been turned out of heaven?' said Lady Mabel
Grex to young Lord Silverbridge.
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