SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1776, 14 June 1913, Page 33

SOME RECENT FICTION.

,«THE DEBJT ACCOUNT." . Oliver Onions has a knack of dealing with most unpleasant (subjects in his novels, the dominance of a purely psychological interest in which may repel some readers. But how brilliant is this writer's gift of realism, how immeasurably he is above any other novelist of the- day in his power, to create an absolutely convincing atmosphere, to make the reader feel ho is assisting at the veiling of actual human passions; how free are his characters from any suspicion of mere puppetdom. Mr. Onions s .latest novel, "The Debit Account. (George Bell and Sons, per Whitcombo and Tombs), iB, to my,mind, easily unquestionably the most original and most impressive piece of realistic fiction we have had. not only this year, but for the past two or three years. Actually it is a sequel to that powerful story, "In Accordance with the Evidence," and although it can, and will bo, widely read, independently of its predecessor, it gains in interest by an acquaintance with its forerunner. "According to the Evidcnco" was a semi-auto-biographical account of the murder, the deliberatoly-planned murder, of a wealthy man, by-'his rival, a poor clerk. Jefferies, the murderer, is again story-teller, and a more tragic, more poignantly pathetic, and, alas, more gruesome story ~in its main incidents—l have yet to read. When the story opens, Jefferies, still a poor clerk, is about to marry tho girl, Erie Soanies, who, four years previously, was engaged to the murderer's rival, Archie Merridrew. Jefferies himself has no qualms of conscience at having "removed" his rival. He is completely "unmoral," as, I believe, our German philosopher friends would say. Also, by this time, he believes himself to be perfectly safe. "Coroner's Jury" had,, I may 6ay, put down Me'rridrcw's death to suicide. Jefferies, though still poor, sees his way clear to coming prosperity. Ho marries Evie, and for a time all is well. The pair furnish a little home in the suburbs, a "pushful" business friend helps tho clerk into a capital billet—there is no cloud on tho horizon. Suddenly, in one of Jofferies's old friends of tho "Business College," described with so much detail in the preceding story, looms up a personified Nemesis. For Louie Causton, extypewriter, and now model, the girl who has hitherto conccalod a deep, uneitinguishable passion for the man wiio had killed Merridrew, now comes back into his life, and cannot be smiled or even threatened away. Truth to tell, Jefferies tries no threats, even when it is brought home to him that Louie knows tho truth. How that faot is brought home to tho now prosperous business man's knowledge is described by Mr. Onions in a chapter which for sheer tragedy has no superior in latter-day fiction. The night walk through Chelsea, the restrained yet alldominant sense of coming disaster on the part of the man, tho fictitious air of reserve, tho dallying and trifling with mere inconsequential topics which precedes the dramatically sudden outburst from the girl: "Tell mo—you killed that boy, didnt ~o u? "_a n point to Mr. Onions's possession of rare powers of insight into human character, of tho perfect mastership ot his art as a novelist. For this one chapter alone, "Tho Debit ■Account" deserves to live. Then, gradually, but relentlessly, Nemesis works. Louie Causton loves the man, and will not betray him, but she cannot bear to think that he is married to Evie Soamos, and urges him to mako a complete breast of his crime to his wife, having some wild hope that through this he may yet bo hers. A third figure, a typically vulgar Cockney Jewess, Mis 3 Levey, a typist, endeavours to make mischief between ,Tefferie3 ind his wife, and nearly blunders jnto a knowledgo of tho truth as to Merridrew's death. Yet again, there comes an ugly ghost from tho past which the wretched man had thought so safely buried, in tho person of noor Kitty. Windui. whom Jefferies had

jilted in order to be free, after killing Aterridrew, to marry Evie. To tell in detail how all these elements work into- tho horrible network of Jcfferies's expiation, an expiation which ends in tragedy, both for himself and that most pathetic of figures, his wife, would take more space than I can afford. Tho fi rial scenes are tainted by a. certain theatricality, somowluit out of keeping with the impeccable artistry of the story as a whole, but it is difficult to suggest any other ending, and this at least must be eaid. that even in his theatricality, Mr. Onions displays a. quite subtle ingenuity. over what I have written. I am afraid 1 liavo conveyed tho impression that J-ho Debit Account" is an unrelieyedly gloomy and gruesome story. That is not so. in fact. Tho actuality of the business scenes, the intimacy of tho domestic pictures, the wonderful way in which tho secondary actors and actresses who play their parts in tho durma, are visualised, all give welcome touches of light to contrast with the heavy predominating shadows, In this character sketch of tho London clerk class, Mr, Onions rivals Mr. 11. G. Wells. But ir. Wells does not come near Mr. Onions as a master ot purely psychological interest. Mr. Wells oould never have written the chapter to which I havo made special allusiou above; indeod, I question very much whether there bo any other novelist save Mr. Onions who could have produced such n masterly presentment of convincing tragedy. "The Debit Account" is a terrible, almost a horrible, storj-, but its tragic force is unquestionable, and assuredly those who read it will not easily dismiss it from their remembrance. By all means, do not miss "The Debit Account."

AN INSURANCE NOVEL. "White Ashes," by Kennedy Noble (Macmillan Co., N.Y., per George Hobertson and Co.), is tho first novel I have ever come across the interest of which centres almost solely round the working of a great tiro insuranco company. There is, it is true, a minor and slight "love interest," but it is merely thrown in, I suppose, as a sop to the sentimentalists, who do not share Stevenson's ideas on the "disturbing petticoat," and has very little to do with the main story, which deals with the rivalries of two prominent insurance men. The/scene is laid alternately in New York. and Boston. The reader is taken behind the scenes in the insurance world of tho two cities, and follows the varying fortunes of the old-established and highly conservative "Guardian" office, and the much more up-to-date "Salamander" Company, whose business is run on highly speculative lines. A prominent official of "The Guardian" behaves most treacherously to" his employers, and, leaving at almost a day's notice, succeeds in transferring a large amount of his old company's business to the "Salamander," which goes near to ruining the "Uuardian." Fortunately, however, a young, but long-headed officer of tho latter, who had long suspected and detested tho trai- • tor, is successful in imbuing his oliifashioned directorate with a belief in his capacity to pilot the old ship safely into port. Now begins a combat of wits and business enterprise between the two men. For a time the "Guardian," under Smith's management, drifts further and. further backward in the contest for business while the "Salaniauder," under the guidance of tho treacherous O'Connor, forges ahead, and bids fair to become the all-dominant power in the insurance world. Finally, the tide swings round in the "Guardian's" favour, and the second of the great Boston fires ruins the "Salamander," which had greedily captured the major part of the older company's business in that city. The author's description of the Boston fire, one of the great historic fires of the United States, is a brilliant piece of writing, but the outstanding and most interesting feature of a clever and well-planned novel is the detailed account of the rivalry between the two companies'aud of the working- of the fire insurance business generally in America. Business men; especially those' interested in fire insurance, should find "White Ashes" a specially attractive book.