SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2175, 13 June 1914, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION.

MRS. DUDENEY'S LATEST I liavo read and enjoyed ttot a fen books by lUrs. iienry Dmlwiej—'"iho Orchard Thief" and th-iU powerful story "Tho ulateroifcy of Harriott Wicken," specially crop il|) ltt BiJ memory—but i must' honestly say that 1 have found hor latest, story, "Set. to Partners" (Win. iiekiefiiaiiu; per George Robertson and Co.); a dull, morbid, and decidedly unpleasant H-ovcl. i\'ot all Mrs. Jjudefle-j's -clever charaO" ler-drawing, her iik'ticiilosisiy detailed analysis ol feminine temperaiacat, can make mo accept her heroiisO, Angelina, i'cachey, as being other than a soltcontradictory, battling, and, to piU it plainly, most impossible creation. An* gelina begins her philandering quite, young', as a school-girl, id fact, . When still in hor teens slio flirts with a Wellborn and wealthy young fool, filially stitUinjj down as the wii'e of a inkWloaged gentlom.au, ziepiiow of Lady Johns, her benefactress, whose chief object in life is to amass rare specimens of oW china. As a matter of fact, the "marriage" is, by Angelina's desire, Merely h free union, for this strange _ you fig woman is so doubtful of horsaif tiw sho will only agree to a- sham, secret marriage, which is aq marrtago allAfter seven years of i this strange union, a union which, to his credit-, Anta-ny is always wanting to legalise, Angelina falls desperately i.u tore with Antony's friend, Julius Pola, and f§WfS off to livs with him in Brittany. But Po!*s goes, away, and becomes totalis? blind, and Antony, to whom tho woman returns, is paralysed, and then a jx\apsr, an<? Mrs. Dudcney presents us with what is, to me, a quite incredible c-tmctasioii--tho settling down, in tise one house, of the two men, both physical wre.ckis, with the woman each has loved, the latter successfully established as a dealer in old chiija afl-i curios. Mrs. Dudcney has evidently gctio to gfeiit pains iii.the writing of this curious-and very unpleasant, story, She dispi-aj'S much ingenuity iii working out the subtle changes in her heroine's feedings towards tho two men. Also, tl.tftfe are some subsidiary figures., wkicb are- wry skilfully characterised. • But n© degree ■of literary craftsmanship . ooi.iW Biake the leading, motif otherwise thai) morbid and disagreeable.

TV/0 WOMEN, Max Pembertoji is always told of utilising what may lie called "iuteriiational incidents" lii his lively, «cU-trld novels. In his "Two Women" (Matinien and Co.) ho describes the experiences in a German tartness «f ft young foglishman, who, with a feOow-oßfcer, is oaptufod by the watchful Teutons .whilst making ■ certain observations of Gorman de,twice works. From this prison he manages. to escape, as the result of a Sennaa doctor being heavily bribed. The money is found by a young lady to lvJwifi lie prfsßiiisr is deeply attached, but the esact source of the relief lleggio Arstrm.hor does. not know at the time, and a second yottng lady assisting in the escape with the powerful motor-car of a ivo:iUh.y peer, with whom she has had fi, liaison, the grateful Reggie feels iii duty bound tomarry 'her. Qit the eve of his wed-ding-day, however, a spiteful deela-ssee, Carrio Reningfald", tolls him that the woman he is about to make his wife }ias been Lord Raynjoro's misirrs-H. The wretched girl has t<; admit tiio truth, and later on Anstrutbejr discovers that it _is really 4<j the faithful' iwl. quietly self-sacrfflc-ing Gertrude W.vnn ; . that he owes -his r®lea-m>. Wedding bells, of course—.after explanations and decent interval—and oven -the frivolous and ovor-trnsiiu! Doris is made happy by tie wicked lord throwing over the beautiful hut haughty lady Tvith whore lie was about- te sake a marriage do convenance, unci wedding her whose reputation ho had besmiwlied. Mr. Pemhertosi gives us some lively pictures of Cenfci-nflntal and London life, and the escape from the German fortress is very cleverly s-tagei-Hianagisd."

"THE PEACOCK FEATHER." Mr. Leslie Moore'? new naval, "The Peacock Feather" (AMttn Rivers;; Mr. George Kobertsoa and Co.), is a> \ delightful, bufo its to its chief characters and incidents, quite impossible, story. I do not for one moment believe fa jSjk Moore's hero, it eharimiigiy irrcspo.ll- - young rnaa, who goes to prison 'fa order to save the reputation of a wastrel and criminal relative, and who, being disowned and east 01'f by his wealthy father, becomes a go-1 lonian tramp, earning Ms living by piping jn country inns, and eraituaily SBtfliiig down in a deserted. cottage and devoting himself to literaiy work. can I accept as even a- possible pork-ait from life tho beautiful and wealthy jwiiiig Lady Anne, who reads Peter's hooks and enters into a. long correspondence with their author, all unconscious of the fact that 1® is _ _ identical with, tho mysterious "writing who .with his pipe 1 and Iris put' mongrel, Democritas, is a source' oi 60 much curious interest to the country folk But OTte roust not look fnf vobcr-sided faet aad cofirinciiig reality in a book replete with such whimsical 'mmour, with such a gay nbiindcinuieat f o tho spirit of fantasy and rwnanatt as is "The Peacock Feather," aiid if both Peter and hjs fair Lady Anna, and that dear old village priest, father O'SttUivan, are but creatures of imagination, tho.y are mightily pleasant and wholesome folk to meet, to- smite, and pcrhapfe to weop with. Abo, thera is ft certain Ugly Little Girl, who is a moat refreshingly origins! Audi qnniHtly lmmorous juvenile, character. If yoa would be taken right out of the everyday Si Jo ■if grim'fact aiu.l too often sordid reality, turn you to "The Peacock Feather," and in the roaianee of my frieiul tho Piper and his channins: lady-love, you shall surely fii.ul nepenthe. ROSAMBO OP THE RIVERS.

Mr. Edgar Wallace lift i- written several excellent stories dealing with Enro« psan and natire lifo in West Africa, but- he has new given lis a Vtt,i?r book than Ins "Hosaiiiiso of ttie' Rivers'' (Ward. Lock and C 0..; nor H. ami W. Jfaefcay). Jtosiunbo is ftfl artful nativo chief, a clever rascal, who asiasscs wealth and a boil nt if ill ly-supjiii &tl harem, as tlw result of his jlsgeiiiojis duplicity. But lie wisely keeps ok Hid right sicfc} of the British CoHiniiasionef, that clover, h.-.iami astonishii'gtj, icsoascoftil Mr. Saa-dcrs, of kJkkb

doings Mr. Wnlteeo has told bo many good stork's hi previous volumes Waring his jmmo on their tillo pages.. Sanders is again' very much to tho fore, as Kiplittgesqitc b Bgure as ever, cheerfully doing his duty, raiml.v igiior- ' nig instructions from London wlicn _ it suits him .so to do, and maintaining! law and order despite the most antag- I onistic intkenees. Perhaps the best | thing sis this latest «£ the Sanders books I is tho story «f how ati Esiglisb-s.-dtteatiHi naiire, a "degree- wan," and all the Jest of it, returns to tho Coast, determined upon proving the full equality of black with whit**. Also, with "Inm comes a silly little American giri, bravc;lt defiant of tho "colon* line." Many years ago the Into Grant. Allen, iii that clever story, "Tho R. cv ; John H'Crcedx," dealt with a similar ine_i« (lent. In eaell (vase the- conclusion is pretty much the samo. ' There is- both comedy and tragedy in those vigorous* ly»toki yarns of Mr. "Wall-ace, and they make excellent reading.

SHORTER NOTICES, Miss Rosina Filippj's story, "Tho Heart of Monica." (Cassell and Co., per S. and W. MacUay), was first- published —then anonymously —somo five or six years ago. It was well worth reprinting, Its subject, a very pathetic subject, is the tragedy of a woman's life, the everyday life of a clever, good, patient- and long-swfferag woman, mated, alas, to a liepelt'SSf drunkard._ Tlwi Story of poor Moiiica-'s sufferings is told*in letters, letters to a male friend v.iio-H;. after tier reiossp, she nva-n'ies. It is a- story, which will "give furiously to think." A more terrible and powerful indictment of tke evils which resiiitfroin iho abuse of alcohol cotild not well have beon penned. It is all .the more powerful in that it is conceived and carried out with Siioli. ,4trtisti(; restraint. incidentally, it contains some boldly effective strictures oh certain latter-day tendencies in Social' life.

Eofael Sab-atini's latwt novel, "The Gates of Poo-m" (Stanley Paiil and Co.}, is a fascinating romance of tho la-tef Jacobite days, frith a gallant youwg soldier of foruuio, a Jsvobito agent, as hero, a hp.iMkom© .voting bei-ress as Iwrsjiiie, aSid a> di®S3pat4K3, treacherous young peer, a ruined gam«ster< as pfinijipttl villain. Mr. Sabatini rccogWSfiS tfcat lie- is ttapssewiiftg tine bounds of reasonable possibility whorl lie eaßsos his i.ieT-a, the plucky ytmiig Captain Gajnor, alias Captaui Jenkyns, to come to iifo again after having be©n banfred at Tyburn, .but- lie claims that parallel happenings still ftwre curious art) on record, sml Hany Gavoor behaves so Efallaiitlv, a?ul his sweetheart so faithful'a keroino. that- no rciadw of his ivonk is likely to g«m?lile at the- apparent imprftba-bifity of the isyidwt. TTor the rest the stsry, witli its plot-S aild souuter-plots and many oxdting a>cf dfiiits to secure the reader's s*tentiep ai>tl ijue-rest, i-> vigorously written, with an ocraiiioual toticb s'f dry Inimoar whieis is decidedly entertaining.

Soiivo oxccllftat reading may always Jo found in the volumes of Bo&ter and Stonsdvton's Shilling Library of Fiction. Recent additions, copies of which teftcfc mo $cr S. and W. _ Mactay, include Stewart Edward. White's fine stsidy of life in tins wiWs, "The Silent Places"; "Ainslio's Jti-Ju," Jiy RaroM Bimlloss-, an exciting story of adventure on tto West Coast, «f Africa; "'(V Motor Maid,'' by C. Js T , and. A. M. Wiltiani' soli; "Th-o Mais from Curdie's Blwr," a. weJl'-Wld of Australian t^eountry life, by Donald M'Leaflj and EnverSfiii jjotign's Well-written story of Western Cowboy sif>i "Heart's Desire.". 'Witt any one of the vxstem.es m life bag a, tra-vciler by fcfain "or steamer is tvell fortified against ennui.

"Slujisey's Magnzino." for April eontains a -complete nmr novel— aJjwshilr ling length—by. Sir Gilbert Parker. The title is "Tow Never Know Your Luck."

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