Christabel's engagement had helped her work so much that Carnation Flower, published that spring, was quite a success. But by the time it was in the bookshops she was glad to go to Atlantic City for a rest, with Aunt Lydia, who wanted company.
Aunt Lydia was as good as Talbot Emery Towne's whole publicity department. She advertised Christabel and Carnation Flower to all the old ladies and gentlemen in the combined hotel and sanitarium where she and Christabel stayed; she dealt out copies to those who could not be bullied into buying. She went up and down the Boardwalk in a rolling-chair, asking for Carnation Flower at all the bookshops. The inmates of Oversea Hall were well trained by her. They waited about with Carnation Flowers and fountain pens, to ask for autographs, they broke off talk of health to talk literature with the authoress. "Have you read
