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too, that in Mrs. Perks's next novel she will not allow her hero to misquote English poetry. This is a privilege
reserved for Mrs. Malaprop.
A constancy that lasts through three volumes is often rather tedious, so that we are glad to make the
acquaintance of Miss Lilian Ufford, the heroine of Mrs. Houston's A Heart on Fire. This young lady begins
SOME NOVELS 73
Reviews
by being desperately in love with Mr. Frank Thorburn, a struggling schoolmaster, and ends by being
desperately in love with Colonel Dallas, a rich country gentleman who spends most of his time and his money
in preaching a crusade against beer. After she gets engaged to the Colonel she discovers that Mr. Thorburn is
in reality Lord Netherby's son and heir, and for the moment she seems to have a true woman's regret at having
given up a pretty title; but all ends well, and the story is brightly and pleasantly told. The Colonel is a
middle-aged Romeo of the most impassioned character, and as it is his heart that is 'on fire,' he may serve as a
psychological pendant to La Femme de Quarante Ans.
Mr. G. Manville Fenn's A Bag of Diamonds belongs to the Drury Lane School of Fiction and is a sort of
fireside melodrama for the family circle. It is evidently written to thrill Bayswater, and no doubt Bayswater
will be thrilled. Indeed, there is a great deal that is exciting in the book, and the scene in which a kindly
policeman assists two murderers to convey their unconscious victim into a four-wheeled cab, under the
impression that they are a party of guests returning from a convivial supper in Bloomsbury, is quite excellent
of its kind, and, on the whole, not too improbable, considering that shilling literature is always making
demands on our credulity without ever appealing to our imagination.
The Great Hesper, by Mr. Frank Barrett, has at least the merit of introducing into fiction an entirely new
character. The villain is Nyctalops, and, though we are not prepared to say that there is any necessary
connection between Nyctalopy and crime, we are quite ready to accept Mr. Barrett's picture of Jan Van Hoeck
as an interesting example of the modern method of dealing with life. For, Pathology is rapidly becoming the
basis of sensational literature, and in art, as in politics, there is a great future for monsters. What a Nyctalops
is we leave Mr. Barrett to explain. His novel belongs to a class of book that many people might read once for
curiosity but nobody could read a second time for pleasure.
A Day after the Fair is an account of a holiday tour through Scotland taken by two young barristers, one of
whom rescues a pretty girl from drowning, falls in love with her, and is rewarded for his heroism by seeing
her married to his friend. The idea of the book is not bad, but the treatment is very unsatisfactory, and
combines the triviality of the tourist with the dulness of good intentions.
'Mr. Winter' is always amusing and audacious, though we cannot say that we entirely approve of the names he
gives to his stories. Bootle's Baby was a masterpiece, but Houp-la was a terrible title, and That Imp is not
much better. The book, however, is undoubtedly clever, and the Imp in question is not a Nyctalops nor a
specimen for a travelling museum, but a very pretty girl who, because an officer has kissed her without any
serious matrimonial intentions, exerts all her fascinations to bring the unfortunate Lovelace to her feet and,
having succeeded in doing so, promptly rejects him with a virtuous indignation that is as delightful as it is out
of place. We must confess that we have a good deal of sympathy for 'Driver' Dallas, of the Royal Horse, who
suffers fearful agonies at what he imagines is a heartless flirtation on the part of the lady of his dreams; but the
story is told from the Imp's point of view, and as such we must accept it. There is a very brilliant description
of a battle in the Soudan, and the account of barrack life is, of course, admirable. So admirable indeed is it
that we hope that 'Mr. Winter' will soon turn his attention to new topics and try to handle fresh subjects. It [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]