MELODRAMA OFF THE STAGE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1277, 4 November 1911, Page 10

MELODRAMA OFF THE STAGE.

"ricuaim) nun an." •Some lillln time, ago '"J'lm l)np Duelor" was nun of (tin Inpicn r>f difcuision nl, n. woman's literary oirclo, nntl the, opinions ns lo Hi" <-f:x of I he, author v/rin divided. Those win) K ;iv<> iii>r|»nlified iir.-iisi! lo llici book believed "Richard iJchnn" 1.0 be a. man; those who luiil ri»n>l with u more critical eye, Wfcl.ii'cd Mint no one Iml n womnn could hnve drawn suc.li men characters, or, indeed, linvn written such an iiyslpvic.nl nntl unbalanced lionk. Now wo road in the Inlet "Hookimni"—"ll: has boon known from the first Mint Uio author, whosn identity was hidden under Mm n.imo of 'Richard Dchnn,' is a woman, and many have. Won l.lin conjectures rofjardinf! her, Onn possibility alter another wns rejected until Mm list of suspected writm narrowed down. In Mirco, namely, Lady Sarnh Wilson, who wns in Snulli Africa during the Boer war; .Mrs. Julia Franknn, whoso 'Pigs in Clover' reveals n nither intimate ncriiiainlancn with .South African conditions, and whoso 'Dr. Phillips' hetrays a familinrily with the theory nnil practice of medicine similar lo that shown m 'The J)op Doctor,' and lastly, Miss Clolilde Jnox Mary Graves, morn briefly rind familiarly referred to in English literary columns as Miss Clo Gravr-a. We understand that neither Miss Graves nor her publishers havo as yet directly admitted her identity with 'Richard Dehan,' hut that sho is the author of "J'ho Dop Doctor' lins for some weeks lieen opesly asserted in the London papers. Just why she should havo resorted to anonymity is somewhat hard to understand, since sho already won somo little reputation as a novelist over hor own signature. She coma? of nn old Irish family tracing her descent from a certain famous dean, the Very Rev. Thomas Graves, of Ardagh and Connor; and she has written a number of plays which have found favour with London audiences."