SOME RECENT FICTION,

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2120, 11 April 1914, Page 9

SOME RECENT FICTION,

!A' JACOBITE STORY. ■ Savo for ono brief interlude in tlio South of England, tlio background of :Mr.- Frederick Watson's' story, "Shallows" (Mothuen and Co., per Georgo Robertson) is alternately Paris and tlio Highlands. Wo get α-iavr glimpses of the Young Pretender.. pighearlediy obstinate, procrastinating and givon to seeking solace in thobraiidy bottlo, but still, in manner, possessing much of tho charm of tho youth. The chief figure, however, is Ethlenn 'Murdoch, only daughter of tho; grim old. lord of Murdoch Castle, who, although ..ho has lost two sons in. tlio "Forty-J?ive," has in his old age, 'become a traitor to tho •Cause, to which his daughter, is still romantically and. passionately β-evoted. It is a sad disillusion to the girl ,wh«n sho comes homo to Castle Murdoch, from a convent in Paris, to .find thai even,in tho Highlands "tho Cause" is regarded as hopeless,-, and that two emissaries from tho Jacobite. Ooloay, in Paris, whom ' sho is assisting, a.re in danger of their' lives. Mr. Watson iiaa conceived" an ingeniously entangjed'pjot, in which Ethlenn, a-ltandsoale young Scotsman named Carmichael (a'spy, afes) and■*» British officer.(one of jfcho recreant Campbell's), together with' tie -two Parisian emissaries, are edncernod, By. the irtay of, fate if- is ttio '.heroiiio herself who brings about the , capture and death of one of the"Stuart ■envoys, but as .the story closes with her y«turn to tho Parisian convent the aiith'of Wats at. poor Ethlenn's happitiess being only deferred.. Tho story has: wmdi picturesque local colour, ■■ add. Stevenson will rejbico to renew acquaintance with moro than one notable 'charaeter in "Kidnapped." I can confidently commend "Shallows" as an. original and very interesting novel. .

SHORTER NOTICES, • Mrs. L. T. Meade's latest novel, "The Passion of Kathleen .Dinpen" (Stanley aul and Co.), has for its heroine a charniirig Irish girl, poor tot of. good blood—"Ono of the Duveenshad reigned in Ulster!"—wlio marries ■secretly. the handsome but. shifty Do-, minie O'Forrel. Six weeds' later Dominio wants £12,000 and iris-, mother wants money elso, and there being «n heiress, Mary . Lindsay, conveniently handy, O'Herrel commits bigamy.' An 3 there is .wjirse to come, for poor Kathleen is found drowned, a-ttd iii the long run. it is proved that O'Feirel has murdered her. Dominic only cheats- tJie hangman by that -much-favoured device of novelists, "death in his cell from heart failure," which Mrs. Meade adds quite naively, "was regarded on all hands as a merciful relief. Though ]not a little stagey,in places--.the story is well told, and readable- enough in its way.

"The Judgment of the SwG-rd," by Maud Diver (Constable and Co,, per Whitcombo and Tombs), deab with'the second stage in the life*story «f MajoT Eldred Pottinger, whose earlier military career Mrs. Diver depicted so ably in that fine story, "The Here.of Herat." Thereader now follows IVttinge-r's adventures and experiences in that fatal campaign in Afghanistan* which closed with the awful massacre at and that other campaign in whipV Asaster and treachery were to be go fearftiljy avenged. Historical events are closely followed,by tho author, who disavows tho term "historical romance" which ,w4s applied to'her previous story, "The Hero of Herat."- "If theio is need for definition," she saya, "dramatised history, perhaps, comes newer the mark, In this-vo'lume every mcMentj'Gtfcn- tte elenderest- conversation, 1 - and,. .in most cases; oven'tho thoughts of those concerned, havo been gathered.-from jourrialsj letters,"" and," «f" tho ■priod:" ■'■; ; Pottiri^ef ! s/traly c siiQble life have- been paid in these t\to fine stories of Mrs.' Diver's 'a lasting kn4 spfeaJid tribute'.' A" picture of' the'P'bitinger. 'monument' in ■■ Bombay and a_sketch , map of-the Kabul district, are given- at the end of tho book. ' ' ' :

The tawdry, and sordid,, and worse than sordid, sido of the lower class Bblicrnianism of whicli Chelsea is .?» well-known London centre, is described with unsparing'realism in Mr. Georgo Wiloughby's . novel, • "The Victims" (William Heinemann, per George l{obertson and Co.). The'heroine, Bianca Harlow, a' young and unsuccessful artist, ruins hor life through a weakness of • temperament 'which is partly hereditary, but she is a lovable, as well as a pitiable figure, and .vastly the superior of the man who, had lovo been, with him something stronger than merely tea* porary passion, might have • helper)' her—• and himself—to.better things.- The pictures of studio life, the portraits of the little group of pathetic failures— "rates," as the French tall them—who divide, their time betweeji) futile socalled work,' the spouting of the fatest art jareon of the day, and frittering away of hour ■ after hour in tippling in Bohemian cafes, are powerfully tirawfl. "The Victims'' is, in some w.iys, an unpleasant story, but it should give "furiously ■to think" parents: whose sons or; daughters—ospecja.% daughters—go'to London'to study art.

In "The Master of MerripuK' (Ward, Lock and Co., per, S. and .W. Macfcay), Mr. Eden Philloptts takes us o»de raoro to Dartmoor, and his beloved "Duchy," and gives us, if not the longest arM best of his novels, a Well-pkniied- a»d exciting -story of English country life at the close of the- eighteenth century. The author does not elaborate his scenes so fully as.in some of His earlier, works, and this_ accounts for fEo action of the story being more rapid than usual with this writer. "The Master of Meiriput,'! John Coole, a.'sturdy farmers and his rival, Saul Copleston, aa. innkeeper, are 'Strongly-drawn cliaracteris, . aftd there is an adventure wiih highwaymen which would have delighted R. L. Stevenson could ho have but read it. Mr. PhUlpotta's rustics, ami'especially Ins jolly Devonshire lasses, aj-e pleasant people to , meet with in the pages of a novel which goes with a greater swing than have some of the author's longer stories.

It is some years now since "Libor" read a little book: entitled "Litanies of Life," in which there was a singular delicacy of touch. To-day comes "Later Litanies," by Kathleen Watsan (Jiel.bourne. Tv C. Lothian),' 'in which the same fascinating, spiritual flavour is nresent. Four stories ■or studies -of

life arc contained in tlio dainty little volume. Each is a chapter from ?. woman's life. In each thero is a strange and special savour of quiet, dignified pathos; in each there are many beautiful thoughts expressed with e.\verbal charm. ' In the opesing story, "The Small Brown Room," the- subject is the loss of a loved one in the icy desolation of the Antarctic. (Price 2s. fid.)

I "The Lizard," bj' H. -Vanghafi-Saiv- ; ver (Mills and Boon, per whitcornbo and Tombs), is ah Indian story with a refreshingly original plot. It is purely a story of native life, describing, as it does, tho unscrupulous plot of : a Bcluchi, who aspires to chieftainship and wealth, to ruin tho estimable eld K.ha» of tho village. That British law way work out justly in Britain, but, whisn applied to land ownership and moneylending in India, may play ' into tho hands of cunning rascals, is the moral of tho story, but where the author is specially successful is ill his sketches of native character. Honest old ShaUbaz Khan, who is brought so close to ruin through the plottings of tfio ambitious Suftar, tho ruffianly brother, Mires, of the latter, and tho faithful old servant Yar Ali, aro cliarneters of wlhjm any novelist might be proud, and alike in tho directness, tlio viyidity of the more dramatic scones, in its suggestion

of tho stipei-imliirai, ami tiro spell of its exotic atmosphere, "The. Lizard", i= a most fascinating story.

"Tlio Hod Colonel," by George Edgar (Mills and Boon., jiqr George Bohcrteon and Co.), is a veil-told if highly -sensational, story of a hidden treasure,' the treasure e-f a gang of clever thieves, wliosfs chief, tlio Wed Colonel, is a peculiarly daring scottmlrcl. An cx-roein-ber ot .the gang, an old man, iiokls tho : secret of. tlio treasure, and is murdered 'by Ms fellow rctscals," who, however, fail to -discover the papers which/contain tlio secret. These papers fall into tlio possession r.i a. young doctor, who is in lovo with the adopted daughter of tho murdered man, and forthwith begins a struggle -between tiro medico arid the "f'«l Colonel," a atiugglq which ends, needless. W say, with. virtue and honesty triumphant, and "villainy vanquished." Mr. Edgar has written a novel very nmch 011 the , lines of Mr. Gppenhchn's clover stories of crime. It is well doits, but I prefer the author in his old vein,

Iho Hat Shop," by Mrs. C. S. Pcol (John.Lane), can Hβ commended' to New ficalaad readers who would like to know how a 'fashionable- hat shop (and dressmaking establishment) is conducted'in the* West- End of London. ■ It relates the experiences of the proprietress of the "hat shop-," a young widow lady of good birth ,and education, but tlio-story is just as■ much a commentary upon present-day life in London, especially of the life led by girfo in'a-1 imijr.T establishments, 'as it is upon "Madame Delaine's" . worries with her hands' and her customers. A subsidiars' story,'that of a young milliner wlio finds it difficult to livo resiieetabiy oil twelve shillings -a week, a-iiu, through an evil chaiici?, and inherent moral weakness, "goes' wrong," has n. deep'y pathetic interest- Lady readers will find "The Hat Shop" an exceptionally interesting novel, the- vagaries, petty meannesses, and, occasionally, downright- diehonestv. of. certain of Mademe's eastonjers being described in a vein of cood-isatured-' aud most entertaining satire.

Literature—of sorts—-is frequently put to good service for cinematograph purposes, and now, .in "the Cinema Books'' (Stanley* Paul and po.) the process is being reversed. "The Life and Reign of Qiiecii Victoria Che Good" and "Hamlet, tire Story of the Bay Concisely Told," are-tie titles of the first two issues. May Wynne, the welN known novelist, supplies the letterpress to-the former set of pictures. The author of the "Cinema- .and Pemmican" version of "Hamlet' preserves his or her anonymity, which is a pity, for the work is very-well done.

Lad? Mary Hunter, the heroine of Mr, ■'JB. Bosanquet's latest oate\, "Mary's Marriage" (John Irf>ng}, is;.a young-and handsome widow*. Her late husband had hor wish' that .aba '.shall mafry his cousin and successor, Sir George Hunterj and tho gentleman, on his is as "willing" as tfa-s David Copperfield'g friend, Mr. Barkis. But a handsomo youiig Irish* maft appears on-tho scene, and the yeuiig widow decides to wait a little. In the mea»time- a womsii whom Sir George has treated very badly turns lip.and exposes his real character, and the pleasant yeimg Irishffioft wins tho coveted prke.. '.

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