SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2169, 6 June 1914, Page 9

SOME RECENT FICTION.

THE PATHWAY. Miss Gertrude Page's, Rhodesian stories always make good reading, and her latest, novel, "The Pathway" (Ward, Lock and Co.: per S. and W. Mackay) should prove as popular as wore its predecessors, "Tho Silent Rancher," "Tho Edge of Beyond," and "Whoro the Strange Roads go Down." As usual, tho story has a strong dramatic interest, provided, in this caso, by.tho revenge- 'which a villainous , Dutchman seeks to take upon a South African statesman, bub Miss -Page's readers will find in the strangely-entangled lovo story of an English girl, Bobbin Glynn, and her handsome young fiance, Toby Fitzgerald, the chief attraction of tho story. Through a misunderstanding poor Toby imagines his Bobbie is untrue to him, and on her side, the girl, of whom .the middlb-aged Sir James (whose life .she saves) has become desperately enamoured, consents, in Toby's inexplicable absence, to marry the man who is able to -come to the rescue of her two brothers, whoso mining enterprise lias proved a failure. Another prominent figure in the drama is a wastrel Englishman* named Blake, at one-time a . partner and- tool of the rascally Dutchman, Van Hyll. Blake, however, '■■■ has some small' 'streak of goodness left ,in him,, and it is ho, in tho .- long run, who stops tho.:-heart-stricken Toby from leaving South Africa, explains away the seemingly, compromising" position in which poor Bobbie had been found, and, with lino, self-sacrifice, brings the lovers together again. The elderly Sir James then plays the . good, anjel to the Glyniis uy .presenting Bobbie with a farm which her husband, shall manage,, and rendering it possible for her sister, Retty,; to' marry-, her. young doctor lover by securing him a' well-paid appointment; The story goes with a good -•wing from the first to-the last.of its chapters, and .the local colour is, as usual in Miss Pago's novels, picturesque nnd convincing..

"LOTTERIES OF CIRCUMSTANCE." Many novels of late.have dealt with pli.o Gorman military lifo, but "Lotteries of Circumstance," by R. C. Lynegrovo (Mctliuen anil Co.), is to be welcomed for its pictures of every-day mid-ale'class-life in a German town, and the intimacy of its account of family lite in Kaiserlnnd. The story deals, for tho most part, with the matrimonal experiences of two sisters, Oiseln, and Mmne Luise,j daughter of a retired and much _ impoverished officer, Baron Adlorshoim. Tho elder sister, a gentle and affectionate creature marries a selfish fellow, the son of a minor official, a health inspector, Gubbenmeyer, whose wife is as vulgar as himself. The younger Fraulein Adlershoim, who has visited England and is as flirtatious as she- is socially ambitious, philanders for a time, and at tho risk of moral shipwreck, with a rich, but ompty-headod young officer, and eventually secures the'prize. Poor Gisela, much the liner character, dies in childbirth, but the selfish Minna Luise, manages to evade the ruin of her,matrimonial posjtion, and in the end is happy enough with her conceited and stupid spouse. Tho author has evidently made a closo study of (Jerman family life', and although his satirical portraits are, at times, a trifle cruel, they carry with thorn the impression of truth. Minna's. English experiences afford opportunity for several curious comparisons between British and German., social customs .

SHORTER NOTICES, Miss Viola Sfeynoll, the author of "Modern Lovers" (Geotgo Bell mid Sons; por Whjtoambo and Tombs) is a daughter of Mrs. AUco. Meynell, the well-known poet and essayist, and sister of Mr. Evcrard Meynelt, whose recentlypublishcd biography of Frances Thomn* son, author of "i'he Hoirad «f Heaven, has been so well reviewed. There is a strong psychological interest in . Miss Meynell's novel, in which is presented, in a series oi' catcfnJly-drawn scows, the lifo of the Eutjrctglen family—the father a cold, egotistical, aeWsh" man, the mother inexpressibly worldly, frivilous, and not a Jiitla vulgar, and the two daughters, Jl-iMie and lite. It is with tho Jove affairs of tho two girls, that tho story mainly deals, and although, to my inlaid, there is an overelaboration of trivia] incident,, and fcil uuduo emphasi-siug of -merely temporary frames of mind, there is bo denying the general charm of • this gracefully* written narrative. The story is a'more ambitious effort than Miss Meyno.ll's earlier story, "Z«jt Barrow/' , iii which there were pictures of rural life end character which Hardy himself could scarcely havo bettered, hut the new story *has fine (jualit-ies of its own, and should place Mass Meyne.Tl-as a novelist to bo reckened with when coiitenj.pai'a.fy fiction is being critically examined. Other recent additions t<» ! Bell's Oβlonial Library (par Wliiteombo and Tombs} are: "Fortune's li'rowii," by j< Blouudello Burton; "have m<l .My Lady," by S. Camifbetl-ijethbridge; "A Dinner of Herbs, , ' by Algernon Kissing; and "There was a Jtoor," by tho autlior j of "Anno , Carstairs." .Mr,. B&rtoa always gives us a strong plot, jvnd sojrie vigorous character-drawing, and- his latest novel, which relates tire adventures, in Spanish Flanders, in Bfea-. bethau times, of -a gallant young Eng* lishman, is a very agreeablo titend of history and fiction. The heroifie of' Mrs. Lethbridge's story, "Love and My Lady," is the daughter jjf an English Veer and niece of n great English states* man. The lady is peiwtitcd by the umvelconio attentions of a foreign tlvplo)nat, Prince Wittgcahof, and: bo&ro the story closes is offered a ■ Morganatic I marriage by no less a personage tliau the Emperor of Mcdovia. La hautepditique, intefitatioaial secrets, and tlie machinations of foreign spies are all important featiirea '4f the s)t-ofy, j which closes with the disgrace oi the | Prince, a dreadful bounder, ond" the j heroine's marriage to a 'handsome | Englishman. Mi-. A-lg&rfton Giraing, iii "A Dinner of -Herbs," fesftjibes, p.s'lis has so often doiKj bofore, rtifttl life and character, and gives 'us a very readable, if net particnlariy exciting story. The curi-ouslj'-entitjed story, "There was a Doa-r,*' has isr'its todihg figuro a young ■lady-'tfUQ/ loft almost penniless, is adopted by a- rich but cocentric old spinster, who, i-a her youth, had desired to marry her protegee's father. H«r iimbitieii' is Angela shall marry a wealthy youttg baronet!. Angela,- however, loves, , snfl is Jew*d, by a-young painter, and aMiowgl* tot a timo difficulties crop Tip as tie res-ul™ of Neville Ferguson's artistic teinperament, the ■ Itoroine 'titvnr tually votes for comparative poverty,' pins love, as against woaHu without, affection. Tliis is an cscaption-afly well written and interest ing story, despite a tendency to caricature ill t-tie portrait of the wealthy Miss Eo^onlieiffl,

Recent arUlition.s to Jfllut Long's sixpenny novels are:' "Mrs. Musgrste's Husband," by Richard Marsh'; "Th<? Sin of Hagnr,"- by Helen Matter's; "Something in tlio City," by Florence Warden; "Ali'dsnmmer Madness," by Mrs. Lovett Camornn; w Tiig Titrftpike House." by Ferfiire Hnnie; ''Traitor and True," by J. jJloutKlejki. Bufton. In most of those storiw the iiVtesrest is highly sensational. Hie John liOiig »«- pennios are- thread-sewn,, wljjeh. jnajcos Wr" so much casi-cr reading'"'than t : h© now all too comnion ■wiring. •■ ,■