SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2007, 14 March 1914, Page 9

SOME RECENT FICTION.

THE SALE OF LADY DAVENTRY.

Tho chief figure in f'Tfa Sale of Lady Daventry" (Herbert Jenkins, per George Robertson and Co.) reminds me, a longo intervallo, of the heroine of Miss Braddon's once famous story, "Lady Avidley'sSecret;" But the anonymous author of this most extraordinary stovy of a- happily most extraordinary woman cotnpletely out-BracJdons Jliss - Bradcton iu piling up a heap gf ißiquities to the tiebit account of the beautiful, tat wieked, Lady Daventry. fhe lady in question is introduced in the first chapter as tho lovely but supremely selfish and- discontented daughter of a honest, but terribly poor, country parson:' The chapter closes with'an appeal, and an answer which, paradoxically-)-''takes the form of a. question:

"Listen, GodP' she cried. "Lis-

ten, God or. devil. Is there none to hear? .Listen both of you, either of you, for life. a«<d wealth, and power I am ready to seß my soul to God, or devil, or. man!" '"Will you sell yourself to me?" asked a plea'saiii voice, and Lionel, tenth Lord Daventry, looked over th&- gate at her. ... .v.

. .-For. niost. readers that would bo enough."' In, "Liber's" case an iiiclinatioh to throw .book ddivp was M-. lowed'by cou'scie-ntious- scruples ageiflst being hasty.and unfair. Aiid-so 1 procfeeded, proceeded to the bitter end, and a very bitter end,indeed it is for the souiseller—of a novel which does'not close until page 480.is reached. And,, truth to tell, despito ■ the fact that--many c{ the leading, incidents in the story, especially in tho earlier part,'' savour, strongly, almost rankly, $t msloilrsma-, the Working o>ut of Lady Daventfy.'s. studied- deviltries, her temporary triumph over \a most evilly treated here, and her final and terrible dWVJVfa-H and punishment, aro tinmistalieabl}' 'cleva? and convincing, fho leading episode, int]io first part, the episode upqM which the whole plot turns, is prehably. as unpleasant—l had ainwst writton tevolisng—a thing as one conld fliid c\'en in la-t* ter-day fiction. But tlio author atones for offending so deliberatolj , against good taste, by a sudden * change -of scei-ie to London, and the exposing, as it. were, of a series of strikingly realistic kinematographie pictures* of journalistic life in Fleet Street, pictures' which not even Oliver. Onions could not better. Finally, the action of the drama swings back' to Daventry Hall, and the last scene of all has. an atmosp-here of poigliant tragedy. "Tho Salo of Lady Daventry" is'a singularly uneven book, but despito its faults, , and they are,not a few, of cheap niiSlodrama and had taste, it has a rich contrast in tho vigour and power of certain passages. A strange story, marked alike; by astyflr lshing crudeness and equally' surprising power. ■ ' * -"J

A NEW "WItMAMSON." Mr. and Mrs. -'-Williamson, to whom .we owe - many • well-wrUfcea and eiitovtaiujng stories, in which descriptions of fbreign.lands <UsEi..so , jeleyorJy sandwiched in between .ifftfrejoyjligs exciting episodes of a purely fietienal character, havo now turned their attention to Egypt as a'. * Thek . Irtesit story,-. "It Happened, in Egypt" (Meiliuen and Co.), shottM lie very popular, ■ It, deals with the a'dventnrps of. a- party of tourists, English and up the Nile, the principal characters Being a young British' diplomat, aft American heiress, ■ a very folly English girl, and an English- oi&eet, in the secret' service, who. is as clever as was the late. Sir Richard Burton iii his Ability, to pass.himself off as an Arab, After-sOnifi preliminary scenes in Cairo, of Avbich city, its .monuments, its varted , life and/especially, its attraoiuraVfor Euro■pcan visitors, -we ate given spiae very entertaining descriptions, the party embark on a steamer and proceed ujj.fte Nile, the objective of the ■ principal members of the expedition, being an an* cient temple, beyond Khartoum, where they oxpect and hope to find a- vast hoard of treasure. Tiro secret, Ihmf*over, is shared by an uiiscrupuloas old military man with a, strong touch of the adventurer, in him,'slut, some most exciting. incidents occur, further complications being, caused by tho agelits of an Irish American secret society, who believe that tho American heiress is the daughter of a man who had b«ra a traitor to the "cause." Also, tlicro is much very pleasant Iwe-fyaking, aiid when tho long-closed burial chafnber of Queen Candaco is finally opened,* the reward for tho best deserving',of the troasure-seekers is & treasure, of love,' not gold. The story, as J have roughly hinted, is one in which there is -no. lack of dramatic interest,, biit- for nianyreaders its chief charm. Will-be found, in the well-written <JesqHptio.ns of famous scenes on the Nile slid , iii.its de-. lincation of Egyptian anfl Arab life, as seen by the tourist-adventarcfS. So-nie-* one, I believe, described the AVilliamspri books as a mixture of lave-matdng and! "boiled-down" Baedeker. That liiay be so, but in "It Happened in Egypt" there-is no -definitely perceptible - padding,, so cunningly conipmuided is the combination, of .imagination, and. information. This is one of the best stor-ies wo have. had. from Mr. avl Mn. Wjl-liamsoii-for. some time past. ■ . y; TWO NEW AMERICANS. Mr". Louis Joseph Tanee's latest- novel, "The Day of Days" (Little, Brown and Co., per George Robertson aiid Co.) is .described in the.title page as "an extravaganza*." It recounts tho adventures of a day,-or father-of <m .wening and a part of the succeeding day, which fall to. the Iti-t of a.youag New Yorker, who , rejoices .iit the -sxtraor-. dinary namo'of l'erceval (Sybarite. Well bred,' well educated, Mr. Sybarite is, when the story coiwijeftces, a eierk in a leather warehouse). To the, boardinghouse where he. lives eoiues a j'ouug lady whom'the hero finds fcnjatl)'. to his taste.' This young lady ho takes to thetheatre. On returniivg home she leaves him at the door and. mysteriously disappears, her gallant then becoming engaged iu a.series of most enfi-ous, exciting, and' at times very por-Hotts, ■adventures in order to free her from the undesired attentions awl villainous plots of a rascal who. is in pursuit of her millions, for tho humble Miss Lsssieg, of tho. glqyo counter, at a famous t?epartment store, is none other, in reality, than Marian -Blessiußton, a fullblown lieiress. Mr. Sybarite chases .tho man whom he suspects of haviiig spirited away tho young lady to various resorts of dissipation, . breaks tjic ■ bank at a notorious gambling hell,' "butts in," as 0. Heß-ry tfo-iM say, between a ruined gambler aiid his Jealous mistress, docs a little atyatew bwgliiry, and meets generally with enough curious'and exciting adventures as would hayo- satisfied tho good Harowi -Alras-chid-himself could he have gone a night hawking in the streets ef. Bagdad oh tho Hudson. Those.who' h-avss veiwl Mr. Vance's previous stories, "The Brass Bowl," "Tlie Black Bag," and "The Bandbox," havo no*need to bo reminded by me how..vigorous is his stylo and. how surprisingly ingenious he ran to in the concocting; of a complicated .series of exciting episode]. Me is easily uy

"to liis old mark in "The Day of Days," and the reader will follow cadi succeeding adventure of the quick-witted and cool-headed Mr. Sybarite with quite breathless interest. A rattling good yarn of its kind.

"Something Else," by J. Breekenluidge Eilis (A. 0. ll'tlurg and Co.: per George Robertson and Co.), is :i story.of Mew York life, well written, and introducing us to many well-drawn characters. But there is such a thing as making a plot over-complicated, oi losing the -substance for tne shadow. Mr. EHis so elaborates tho mystery which suirounds the birth of his hero that after a timo his readers are hard put to remember the successive developments, and when the secret of Irving Payne's birth is linatiy disclosed it has : lost much of its interest. The story is a strange mixture of clever charactordrawing and crude- melodrama, but BHich may bo forgives an author who introduces us to such fleas-uit people as Irving Payne and Winifred Adams, and there is also an eccentric old doetor, who will not readily be forgotten by those wlto read the book. But the. Socialist tramp—Payne's - father—who devotes his leisure to reading the wholes of Dumas's works —some two hundred and ninety volumes —is, frankly, impossible, and the melodramatic Italian ruffians, Agostino and Pasqitale, are beyond the pale of reality; and would have theii- proper, place in a kinejnatograph drama. The story, like the, ■ curate's egg, is good, in parts, so good! i.u some parts as to make one woiidejit can be so weak in others. SHORTER NOTICES. When Konald Lord Casserley comes lit mo to Jsiiglaud from India, to inherit a title; and estates worth £30,000 a year, his first desire is to seek out and merry Monica Bheldfick, , whom, seven ■years ago, he had met and loved, As a matter ©f fact Monica, had long before .this "married'.a handsome scamp named Barrington, and had disaupenreda Her younger sister, Evelyn, receives Lord Casse'rley-, who, mistaken, so the author asks us to bciieve, by her striking fesemblsnco to Slouiea, takes Evelyn' for the woman' h<; had loved.- Poor, and friendless, the gi.fl is tempted to pass hei'-self off as her sistef, and marries the luswcoatcT. She becomes passionately attached to her husband, whilst dreading discovery of her deceit, a- discovery which is threatened through the suspicions and'amateur deteetiv4 Work of a lady who had herself coveted the Peer. Her posi--tion becomes doubly difficult through tlie blackaiailiag of Monica's rascally husband, who, after the death of Iris wife, accidentally discovers the irick that has been ployed , on Casseiv ley by his sister-in-law. In the end the wife confesses her deceit to her husband, who has been tori), asunder by Contending love and suspicion, and reconciliation is followed by happiness. Tlio ptot bangs upon what is a gross improbability, but it is -cleverly elaborated, tho result being a very readable story.

Piiace Mas of Lilenbttrg, the h.oro of Mr. R. A. Dillon's highly pniorfeaining story, "ffae Prince's Prodicament 5 ' (Stanley Paul), is engaged to marry the Princess Alexia of Ilara, wliom ho has never seen. * Being ef a roinaiitic and all venturous* spirit, he appears in the city of BeaM'egard, the home of the fair Alexia, hi the character of a private'gentleman, Oscar de Mo-may. A helpful fate brings.about a meeting of princess and prince, who, each ignorant of the- other's real identity, fall in love. The prince, however, hecomes entangled: in a' court hitriguo which further cptaplwates a highly romantic situation, and tho storv < i-e.Sfl-lves itself into a) i series of highly esciting episodes, iii which the prince "proves himself a roan of'inottk in inore ways than one. Jho author displ-nyg" considerable ability in the-working out- ol'w-ha't he .very pro-I'C-rly alia' a' rtunflntic comedy.