 Ultimately, however, Machen agreed to revise the description of the final scene of the book, in order to purge one word that Lane had found to be too explicit; the word was "entrails".Partly in response to criticism of the Stevensonian style of the book, Machen altered his approach in writing his next book, "The Hill of Dreams".Following the death of his first wife in 1899, Machen developed a greater interest in the occult, joining the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.