an in White_, _No Name_, and _Moonstone_, the first of
which had a pre-eminent success; Mr. Reade his _Hard Cash_; and Lord
Lytton his _Strange Story_. Conferring about the latter Dickens passed a
week at Knebworth, accompanied by his daughter and sister-in-law, in the
summer of 1861, as soon as he had closed _Great Expectations_; and there
met Mr. Arthur Helps, with whom and Lord Orford he visited the
so-called "Hermit" near Stevenage, whom he described as Mr. Mopes in
_Tom Tiddler's Ground_. With his great brother-artist he thoroughly
enjoyed himself, as he invariably did; and reported him as "in better
health and spirits than I have seen him in, in all these years,--a
little weird occasionally regarding magic and spirits, but always fair
and frank under opposition. He was brilliantly talkative, anecdotical,
and droll; looked young and well; laughed heartily; and enjoyed with
great zest some games we played. In his artist-character and talk, he
was full of interest and matter, saying the subtlest and finest
things--but that he never fails in. I enjoyed myself immensely, as we
all did."[238]

In _All the Year Round_, as in its predecessor, the tales for Christmas
were of course continued, but with a surprisingly increased popularity;
and Dickens never had such sale for any of his writings as for his
Christmas pieces in the later periodical. It had reached, before he
died, to nearly three hundred thousand. The first was called the
_Haunted House_, and had a small mention of a true occurrence in his
boyhood which is not included in the bitter record on a former page. "I
was taken home, and there was debt at home as well as death, and we had
a sale there. My own little bed was so superciliously looked upon by a
power unknown to me hazily called The Trade, that a brass coal-scuttle,
a roasting jack, and a bird cage were obliged to be put into it to make
a lot of it, and then it went for a song. So I heard mentioned, and I
wondered what song, and thought what a dismal song it must have been to
sing!" The other subjects will have mention in another chapter.

His tales were not his only important work in _All the Year Round_. The
detached papers written by him there had a character and completeness
derived from their plan, and from the personal tone, as well as frequent
individual confessions, by which their interest is enhanced, and which
will always make them specially attractive. Their title expressed a
personal liking. O