Celebrated critics have written with scorn of what they call 'the long
arm of coincidence' in fiction. Coincidence is supposed to be the
device of a novelist who does not possess ingenuity enough to
construct a book without it. In France our incomparable writers pay no
attention to this, because they are gifted with a keener insight into
real life than is the case with the British. The superb Charles
Dickens, possibly as well known in France as he is wherever the
English language is read, and who loved French soil and the French
people, probably probed deeper into the intricacies of human character
than any other novelist of modern times, and if you read his works,
you will see that he continually makes use of coincidence. The
experience that has come to me throughout my own strange and varied
career convinces me that coincidence happens in real life with
exceeding frequency, and this fact is especially borne in upon me when
I set out to relate my conflict with the Rantremly ghost, which
wrought startling changes upon the lives of two people, one an
objectionable, domineering man, and the other a humble and crushed
woman. Of course, there was a third person, and the consequences that
came to him were the most striking of all, as you will learn if you do
me the honour to read this account of the episode.
So far as coincidence is concerned, there was first the arrival of the
newspaper clipping, then the coming of Sophia Brooks, and when that
much-injured woman left my flat I wrote down this sentence on a sheet
of paper:--
'Before the week is out, I predict that Lord Rantremly himself will
call to see me.'
Next day my servant brought in the card of Lord Rantremly.
I must begin with the visit of Sophia Brooks, for though that comes
second, yet I had paid no attention in particular to the newspaper
clipping until the lady told her story. My man brought me a
typewritten sheet of paper on which were inscribed the words:--
'Sophia Brooks, Typewriting and Translating Office, First Floor, No. 51
Beaumont Street, Strand, London, W.C.'