Hubert James Foss was assistant editor of the periodical Land and Water during 1920. Lawrence had published in this work in April 1920 a story entitled You Touched Me, and it was probably after this appeared that he used Foss as an intermediary with Secker and The Queen. The Lost Girl was written in 1913 but was completely rewriten in the Spring of 1920 and from a note in his diary was finished on the 5th of May. It is not known if the work was offered to The Queen but as Secker managed in November to publish The Lost Girl it would appear that the manuscript had come his way in good time. The concern over the arrival of the manuscript was possibly due to the postal strikes in Italy in 1920, which caused Lawrence concern in his other correspondence. The two items are unpublished and give greater knowledge of Lawrence's relations with his publishers.