SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1794, 5 July 1913, Page 9

SOME RECENT FICTION.

' SIR GILBERT PARKER'S NEW STORY. -'•'The Judgment House," by Sir 'Gilbert Parker (Methuen arid Co.; per Whitcombe and Tombs), is, despite an occasional suggestion of rather cheap melodrama, the strongest and best novel we have had'for some time from this author. The period is that of the Boer War, and tho three or four years previous to Oom Paul's famous throwing down of the gauntlet, and nearly all the characters are interested, directly or indirectly, in South African affairs. Unless I am mistaken, not a few of the figures in this story could bo easily identified by those familiar with the inßide track of tho. intrigues, political and financial, which preceded the war. Whether this be 90 or not, Sir Gilbert Parker must be credited with having clothed such men as Rudyard Byng, the African millionaire, lan Stafford, the diplomatist, Adrian Fellowes; the Boer spy, and such women as Almah, the brilliantly-gifted prima donna, and Lady Tynemouth, the society lady, .who equips_ and goes out with a special field hospital' force,' with a .convincing air of reality. Tho story deals with the passion of . two men; Byng'and Stafford, for a young, and beautiful and well-born woman, Jasmine Grenfell, whom the • former marries. Jasmine,, emotional, temperamental, living only for excitement and pleasure, has a strain of vice in hex blood; and although married to Byng, who loves her passionately, but who, .through immersion in his great schemes, for a time neglects her, carries on an intrigue with. Fellowes, a selfish, contemptible rascal, as well as with her old admirer, Stafford. Not once, but frequently, does the author quote the famous passage from "Antony and Cleopatra": "If you had lived a thousand years ago you would have had a thousand lovers. . . . And now you come down through the 'centuries purified by Time to be my jasmine flojver." Sir Gilbert' is greatly daring in making such a woman still loved and forgiven by a man of Byng*s strong and usually merciless nature, and in making war the purifier of an all-round worldly and vicious atmosphere he is equally courageous. The reader will regret Stafford's sad.end, but all the moro will he regret, that death wasthe'.: price: the man arid not tho woman paid for their joint sin, ..for. the woman was the worse sinner of the two." But" as a'story

"Tho Judgment House" is.a fine, impressive, completely fascinating, piece of w;ork. Most of the scones are laid in London, the London of wealth, luxury, high politics, of %reat financial schemes, out Sir Gilbert is equally at home when he shifts the scene to South Africa, and shows the cruelty, the misery, and, too, the grandeur and nobility which can come to the uppermost when the war jlogs are let loose. The story, too, is specially rich in well-drawn, effective minor characters. There is a touch of Dickens "hi Jigger, a wastrel boy newsvendor, and Frank Danby never drew a more convincing H£brew N (of the"Jewburg" variety) than Mr. Clifford Melville (born Joseph Sobieski, of Posen). But the author's chief success is with Byng"s servant, the half-caste Boer-llottentot, ICrool, who loathes the rooineks, who is a spy in Knitter's pay—despito memories of Boor cruelty in his youth—and yet who loves and clings to "the Baas." There is a scene in Byng's house iu the West End of London where the master ruthlessly "sjambocks" his servant, which is tense with the very spirit of tragedy, and yet tho wretched creature who' has botrayed his master politically lives to rescuo him from death on a South Afrioon. battlefield. As a psychological study, ICrool is a>veritable triumph. "Tho Judgment House" is a very long novel, but so richly packed with dramatic incident, so replete with the workings of primitive, elemental passions, that it becomes as it were a panorama of life, wch succeeding picture in which has its own compelling interest and intrinsic value, but each assisting to form tho harmonious ■ whole. Sir Gilbert Parker is to be congratulated upon what is an exceptionally powerful and striking story, one the succeeding chapters of which will be read with ever increasing interest, and one which, once read, will not oasily fade from the memory.

JEWELS IN BRASS. Those who read and enjoyed thaty strikingly original and charming story; "A String of Beads," will turn with feelings of pleasurable anticipation to "Jewels in Brass," by Jittie Horlock (Duckworth anil Co.; per George Robertson and Co.). Miss Horlick again gives 115 a very original story, the story of a girl. Antonio Hext, who, the daughter of ail English peer and an opera singer, with Oriental blood in her veins, has teen adopted and brought up bv a dreamy dabbler in science, and tkq occult ftQil iA rrkow Aijxcd heredity ml

lack of proper parental control have tended to stimulate a natural tendency to be unconventional. . A lovablo but terribly emotional creature, she asks Adam Chaine, a wealthy, brilliantly gifted, but eccentric artist, to marry her. Chains is nearly ■three times licr age, and endeavours to bring his admirer to reason. Finding that the girl's hero worship is so strong that to thwart it would actually imperil her life, he consents. The marriage, however, to his honour, remains one in name only, and for a while all goes well. Two paTS pass by, and the young wife, wlio is rgally no wife, meets a handsome, wellbred man, Baby Stigand. Then opens up a new period in Tony's life, for by this time she has come to know what real love is. It would be unfair to the author to go further. Suffice it to 6ay that she creates a series of interesting, if at times rather delicate situations, the 6tory closing with poor Chaine's death being near at hand, and with Stigand's deliberate postponement of the happiness which the future has clearly in store for Tony and himself. A pretty 6tory, with some very clever dialogue. Headers may differ in their opinions as to Stigand's conduct, but on the other hand they cannot fail, I think, to agree that Tony, with all her faults, is a very charming figure. SHORTER NOTICES. ■ Miss Katherine Tynan's latest story, "Mrs. Pratt, of Paradise Farm"' (George Bell and Sons; per Whitcombe and Tombs), has an English, not the Irish, background so generally favoured by this author. Mrs. Pratt is a young and pretty and good-hearted woman, who has been tried for, but found "not guilty" of, poisoning her elderly husband. Local feeling is, however, strong against her, but eventually come two lodgers at the farm—a lord's son who has married a ward in Chancery, and his wife, and the young people, who scoff at the veiy idea of the woman's guilt, bring with them a new atmosphere of bright happiness, in which their hostess shares. Black days, however, come for Mrs. Pratt and her guests, but. the widow proves herself a true heroine in humble life, and in the end everybody, save a jealous and vicious little Cockney servant girl, are made supremely happy. Tho rustic setting of tho; story is fresh and very charming. A'recent addition to Nelson's two-shil-ling -novels'is a translation, by H. M. Miller, of Colette story, "A King's Calling" (Nelson;'per Whitcombe and Tombs). The author has chosen as her subject' the struggle which takes place in "the semi-Gothic, semi-industrial city of Oldsburg," "Queen of the North," and. capital of the kingdom of Lithuania, between tho rival forces of the ruling conservative officials and an ultra progressive, revolutionary party., The heroine, is loved by one of the revolutionary leaders, and also by the Lithuanian monarch, King Wolfran. Sorely tempted for a time, Clara Hersburj} eventuallythrows to the winds the ambitious desires which possess her, and chooses to follow Israel Kosor, the Anarchist leader, 'into exile. The story is told with much dramatic power, and incidentally throws Bome interesting light upon the social and political elements which are now permanently at war, even in the oldest-established Continental States. .

Mrs. Willcocks's latest book, "The Wind Among the Barley" (Mills and Boon; per George Robertson, and Co), is a collection of stories and sketches of the fisher folk and small farmers, and people generally of the far West of England. . In previous books, notably that charming stor ( v "Widdicombe," the 1 author has exhibited a special talent for drawing rustib characters, and'here again her pen sketches are Bharply, crisply done. There are passages in this book of Mrs. Willcocks's which Hardy himself might proudly father, - and yet never is the realism tainted by any suspicion of cruelty. Mrs. Mrs. Willcocks's eves turn first to the eccentricities, the humours of life, and ehe has imagined or gathered together a rich store of good stories which she tolls or retells with unfailing vivacity. There is pathos in some of the stories, even a touch of the tragic, but for the most part humour,, kindly, mellow humour, predominates. This is a book which all know the West of England should heartily appreciate. ~ ;

Messrs. J. H. iiotnune and Co. announce that on Wednesday next, at 2.M p.m., at their rooms, under instructions from tho Registrar of the Supreme Court, they will submit an Island Bay property. This comprises freehold land, situated in Humber Street, on which stands a large brick building known a 9 tho Island Bay Town Hall. Details appear in the advertisement, and any further information may be obtained on application to Me.-srs. Yon tic and Tripe, wlicitors, or th« auctioawrt»