Mr Caine was now living in rooms on the fourth floor of New Court, in Lincoln’s Inn. He called upon several publishers with the object of getting his novel issued in volume form; eventually Chatto & Windus made him an offer which he accepted, and at this date the book has gone through more editions than I care to count. It was an immediate and undoubted success, and the only thing that Mr Caine regrets with regard to it is the fact that he was forced to sell it outright instead of on the royalty system. Hard cash was what he wanted, though the amount he received in ready money would have been trebled many times over if he had been paid according to the number of copies sold.
As the first novel of a young man (and, at this time, Mr Caine was quite painfully young) The Shadow of a Crime shows little evidence of crudity. It is coherent, cohesive and mature. It is true, the melodramatic interest is often too insistent, and that the novelist expects too much from the credulity of the reader; but these faults apart, the book is the book of a grown man and a practised writer. It evinces an intimate knowledge of Cumberland life and dialect, and has the dignity and strength of a work of genius.
After the publication of The Shadow of a Crime a time of need ensued. He canvassed many publishers and offered himself as reader, but he was invariably turned away. Whatever indignity and humiliation was thrust upon him only made him more determined to succeed. He never knew when he was beaten. He never was beaten, for he never withdrew from his hand-to-hand fight with the world, but struggled on with the passionate conviction that he would one day come off the winner. So, undaunted, he set about the writing of a new work, A Son of Hagar.
When this book was nearing completion, he expressed a wish to Mr Richard Gowing to dedicate it to Mr R. D. Blackmore, the author of Lorna Doone. Mr Gowing, who was a friend of Mr Blackmore’s, immediately communicated with him and received the following reply:—
“Teddington, December 21, 1886.
“My Dear Mr Gowing,—It will give me great pleasure to find a work of Mr Hall Caine’s inscribed to myself. I have not read any book of his, although I have wished to do so. The Shadow of a Crime slipped by me somehow, when I was very busy; but I know that it was a fine work. My name is not of such repute that he need entertain any fear of misconstruction. His own work will lead him on; if he shows the proper value for it, in the care which makes it good—as I gather from his letter that he does. Please to tell him that I am proud of his goodwill and approval. I hope that you are doing well, and offer my best wishes for the Christmas, and the coming year.
“For myself, I met with an accident last June, which crippled me for several months; but at last I begin to plod again, and renew my acquaintance with plant and tree. They are all in great tribulation now, and many will never see the coming year.—Believe me, with kind regards, very truly yours,
“R. D. Blackmore.”
Three months later he wrote the following letter to Mr Caine himself:—
“Teddington, March 14, 1887.