SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1824, 9 August 1913, Page 9

SOME RECENT FICTION.

■ "THE LIFE MASK." The success achieved last year by that wy remarkable story, "He Who Passed," should be repeated by a second production kotu the pen of its sfcill anonymous author. For my own part, I prefer "Tho Life. Mask" (William lLeineinann; • per George Kobertson), to its predece;sor. In a way t'he/plot reminds me of tho onco famous. May trick case. Tho heroine, who, when a mere gir.l, is practically, forced by a salfish and unscrupulous mother into a marriage with an elderly ex-roue, who behaves towards' hor with . consummate cruelty, suddenly finds lierself standing in the-.'dock on a charge of having poisoned her husband. As a matter of fact, she is quite innocent, but- the circumstantial evidence is so strong against her that she is found guiilty .and sentenced to dtath, afterwards commutyl to imprisonment for life.- At the eiul of ten years she is liberated, as she is believed to be dying. Taken c'hargo of by an oM servant, who has come into a legacy, she is nursed back into fair health, the pair taking up their residence in a beautiful old houso just outside the gardens of tho famous . Alhambra, at Granada. Hero Nita Durrand is wooed by, and gives 'her love to, an English gentleman of good family, Captain' Shannon. The woman, howeve.r, who believca that in a dream or trance sli9 may have administered the fatal dose to her husband, cannot bring herself to. become the wife of Captain Shannon, whose aunt, arriving on tlio scene, now recognises Nita as the- "notorious Mrs. Durliand," whoso name had been on everyone's tongue os that of a cold-blooded murderes;'. The heroine unburdens her soul to her lover, and finally rejects him, tho secret of her curious seclusion from the -world being now only revealed to the reader. Fortunately for Nita's honour and -happiness, tiio faithful servant, Sarah, now comes forward and confesses that, loathing her mistress's husband for his cruelty, she herself had given him the poisoned drink. Afterwards, when the widow was tried, she had not had the courage to confess. Before the lover hears of the confession, followed by tho dramatic death of the culprit, ho Tiad ' determined 'to make another effort to win Nita's-consent, being, completely convinced of her innocence, and courageously willing to fa'ce the world as the .husband of the notorious Mrs. Durrand. Old Sarah's confession, of course, puts •matters straight, and tho story ends with ■tho promise of happiness for the mucli.hunted and sorely ill-treated heroine. In 'the working out of this strongly dramatic .interest, tho author displays decided talent. The writing is admirable , tho ;woird-pictares of tho historic Alhambra jand -its surroundings being particularly 'attractive. Somo readers . mnv, perhaps, jjiind "the love-making part; a,_little cloying;' pbnt "Tho Life Mark" 'ns a whole a 'singularly strong and'beautiful story. ,

"THE SIXTY-FIRST SECOND." ! In "The Sixty-First Sccond," by Owen .'Johnson (William Heinemann; per Georgo 'Kobertson and Co.), the' principal male characters are Neiv York' financiers, some wealthy and powerful, others mero hang-ers-on to the skirts of "Wall Street. The opening scono is a dinner party given b.v a' somewltat mj-sterious person, Mrs. Rita Kildair, n friend of two of tho leading financiers, nf whom the party is mainly oomposed. A- vahiafclo jewel winch ■had ;been lent to the lady by one of tho , iinhn'ciel's is stolen, wider circumstances which point to tho guilt of one at least ■of the guests. The hostess.promptly locks "the doors, informs the company of her •loss, .and announces that she is going to count one hundred in' tho dark with those present standing round the table, and, if at the end'Of the count tho ring is not on tho table detectives wilbbe called in to make a personal search. At the sixty-first count there is a quick, metallic sound, but tlie'.fact notwithstanding, when 'the count is finished, and tho lights are turned up, the table is absolutely bare, the ring having been apparently, stolen a second .time. Tho mystery of tiie stolen .ring is not solved until the very ond of the story i? reached, and in the meantime many exciting incidents occur to the leading characters, a famous detectivo playing a prominent part in the solving of the jiroblem. I am getting just a little surfeited with stories in which one American magnate of finance endeavours to ruin another, and with the reflected sensations of Wall Street generally, but in "Tho Second" there is a welcome elemcnt-'of originality, and the novel, as a whole, is agreeably entertaining.

"STELLA MARIS." A veritable avalanche of new fiction has recently poured down upon me, and many of tii© uooks are 01 moro than average interesc- and importance. liere is 'Air. Locko's new story, lor example, "Stella Maris" (John Lane; per Whiaonibs and 'ruluusj, u liuvei wmuii uiSpite an •>veruu.s-> of its author's usual sentimentality, is a story of great ingenuity - of plot ami whimsical humour in its telling. It is (• quite an up-to-ilalo fairy story. Its Heroine is a beautiful invalid girl, a sufferer from a special complaint which keeps Iter a prisoner to one room, b'no is tile good angel of the house, and apart lrom - her uncis and aunt, exercises a powerful iniluonce ovyr two .outsido iriends, ono a journalist, the other an actor, who come down to Brighton from workaday London to revel in the charming simplicity and innate gtodness' of tho girl, lvept iu ignorance of the uglier side of liie, Stella reaches tho age of eighteen, when suddenly a Uornian specialise effects a quite miraculous cure, bile goes to London, and is at once disillusioned. llisca, tho journalist, has married, when a mere youth, a horrible creature, who has gone to gaol for three years lor brutally ill-treating a foundling girl. Ths woman meets Stella, and poisons tho girl's mind against .he man whom by this time Stella has learnt to love-as well'as respect. The tragic part played by tho poor foundling girl in clearing itisctr's character, .and ridding him for ever of an' awful incubus. I must not describe in detail. Nor can I even hint at other curious entanglements which are all worked out sxj cleverly by Mr. Locke. Some readers may join witli me in thinking that the author has onco again overdone 'his sentiment, and I, for one, could wish that tho conclusion of the story, so far as Stella's decision between. tiie two friends, but rival lovers, is concerned, had been otherwise tlinn it is. But the story makes delightful rending, and should not bo missed by those who enjoy a really good novel.

"THE DEPARTMENT STORE," ""Margaret Bohino, the author of. "Tho Department Store" (Applclon and Co.; per Ueorge Robertson and Co.), may be remembered as tho author of that powerful but almost repulsively realistic story, "Tho Diary of a J.ost One," which created such a sensation a year or two ago, Her new story is hardly written virginibus pucrisque, but adult renders will iiml in it a remarkably powerful study of life in one of tho great Universal. Provider's shops, now so common in Berlin, as they have been in Paris, London, and New' York. The story owes not

a little, I suspect, to Zola's novel, "Au Bonhcur des Dames" ("The Ladies' Taradiso"). As in the great French novelist's story, wo have an elaborately detailed record of the building up, from the most modest beginnings, of a vast -drapery establishment, which develops later on into an emporium at which practically every class cf goods can be bought. Mullenmeister's store spells ruin for a small host of worthy but old fashioned shopkeepers. Its proprietor has a positive gonius for divining and. anticipating the tastes and requirements of the public. How lie founds and successfully conducts his great store, how, in the heaping up and safeguarding of his fortune, ho sacrifices his domestic peace and happiness, how the haste to get rich at all costs saps tlie moral character of so many of his relatives, friends, and employees, how rivals appear and are crushed, how tho ."•lullenmeister Store ever dominates tho retail trade of the great capital, is told in a strikingly clear and convincing way. I cannot say this is a very pleasant story. It is not, as I liavo said, a novel pour les jeunes filles. But it is certainly a most powerful and striking story. A special word of praise is duo to the easo of tho translation, by Miss Ethel Colburn Mayne.

SHORTER NOTICES. In "Mr. Laxworlhy's Adventures" (Cassell and Co.; per S. W. Mackay), the industrious Jlr. Oppenheim introduces us to an abnormally shrewd old gentleman, who, partly as a hobby and partly as a means of livelihood, devotes himself to discovering and thwarting the evil plans and deeds of various cosmopolitan Anarchists, thieves, a.nd swindlers. For the most part, the back-ground is Ilyeres and Monte Carlo. -Mr. Laxworthy is a compound of "Monsieur Lecocq" and "Sherlock Holmes," and his varied experiences and adventures' make good light reading.

John Delancv Curtis, the hero of "One Wonderful Night," by Louis Tracy (Ward, Lock and Co., per S. W. Mackay), is a'mining engineer, who, returning to.England after a- long sojourn abroad, finds himself, on his first evening in London, taken for one Jean du Courtois, who the same night is murdered. Also, Mr. Curtis, tho very next day marries the Lady Hermione, only daughter of the Earl of VaHetort, albeit they had never met before. So much for the introduction to a highly sensational story, which should vastly entertain those readers who like this olass of fiction.

When in the right mood Morlev IJoberts can write an excellent short story. In "Gloomy Fanny and Other Stories" (George Bell and Sons; per Whitcombe and Tombs), the quality is somewhat uneven. The little story, which deals with the adventures, as an East End potato merchant, of a bored, but likeable, young peer, is'too long for its subject, but is amusing enough in its way. Two of the other stories, however, each possess exceptional merit. Both in "The Air From Verdi," in which, a man, determined upon murdering a miserly and cruel old relative, finds on arriving at his- home that the crime has already been committed; and in "The Beatas Page," there is a strongly developed psychological interest. All the stories are distinctly readable.

A publisher's puff on the cover of Charles 'Marriott's latest novel, "Tho Catfish" (Ilurst and Bkvckett; per Whitcombe and Tombs) describes the book as a "great novel." As a matter of fact "The Catfish" is but a poor thing-com-pared.with "The Column" and "Ginevra," two of Mr. Marriott's previous novels. Its hero is the son of a country banker. Tho young fellows suffers in early life 'rom an inability to'"find himself." He is discontented and impatient, anxious to make a stir in the world, yet apparently too apathetic to try and discover tho right channel. Ho settles down in the end as tho proprietor of a sort of Universal Provider's emporium, marrying a vety charming woman, but missing, through lack of courage; the woman who loves : liim and who would have brought out the best in him. For tho first hundred or si pages the story drags terribly, but as usual with Mr. jlarriott, there is some distinctly clei'er character-drawing.

"Hadow of Shaws," by Th-eo. Douglas (Mcthiie'n, jkst Whitcombe and' Tombs), is a' story of. .the eighteenth century, with plenty of sentiment and a touch of melodrama. as its leading features. The idea of ft . heroine planning , her . own mock burial in order to escape from a husband with. whom, some j-ears previously, she has gone through a forai of marviaga, is certainly original, and indeed tho story throughout. is stronger in. plot than narration. Readable, but not particularly notable.