SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2414, 20 March 1915, Page 4

SOME RECENT FICTION.

" SOME PETT RIDGE. STORIES. _■'(Book: Here" is. the ;brief but happy title of the'latest volume of - Mr.- .Pett Rjdge's.iclever.. and' amusing stories,.. to be_ published.by Messrs. Metlvuen. -The ! as -good < as-ever. ■■ Mi'.; Pet't Ridge is_ always thoroughly at home ill tliF'Cockney. world' he -has ■niade 'his'ow'n peculiar and -preserve. City merchants;" city _ clerks,. typistes;Tvaiters, taxi-drivers,- railway servants j" ancUtlleir feininine. .friends4?ofc-these,,.and . .their ways ,®lrr ■ Ridges' liefer "tire's of- ivfitiiig; itnd : .s6rlo'iig' as he' continues";to'' write'of them with. such. % keenly hiimdrciiis " insight : into character he will always' have his faitlif al. baiid of-'admirers. ,Tlie ingenuity',with''which 'he'..wiir.contriye l a situation seemingly fraught w'ith'disaster to the chief figures , .therein'.-is'..only equalled by tho surprising facility:-with which b& devises'iin..astonishingly novel oscape' into happiness all round. Mr. Ridge's-mahnerisriis;-ar^ :r perhaps;-grow-ing upon_ him a-little,;and liore and there fife imagination.'But 'there, is 110 one/'save 'perhaps Mr..AVi; ~V(.]Jacobs, who;-can come anywhere, near .'him as an exponent of. a-class.>of'humour essentially Eng-. . lish, bright and wholesome. Of the last batch'-Iv'prefer the story entitled "Colonial .'lntelligence," the heroine of which,' a lady .tobacconist, gets into an awkard situation through feigning acquaintance with a-purely'Petitions Aus-tralian-admirer. Included in -the 'collection, is/'a shijrfc but quite brilliant study ; in reconstruction,, thb .'story of a city merchant's, daily' life in the far-away ■ Viciori.au • 'sixties. < This is a literary i tour-deforce,; as; happily carried out .as jt is ingeniously conceived.

; " ARUNDEL." . >

tie now.\quiteV.alarmmg bulk of Mr. E. E. Benson's Kctionai out- ; put, it is surprising how seldom he fails to .scoro .a siiccoss. Certainly nofc.iu his latest novel, "Arundel" (Fisher, TJnwin), is there perceptible any falling off in that.'special?quality, generally discernible iti this popular.-writer's work, namely, the' quiet but convincing realism with : which ho can reproduce tho very colour, and atmosphero of upper middle class life in England./' The story is in noway remarkable in its .plot, if, indeed, the term plot is properly to bo employed in connection' therewith.' A young mail, in a ;: goo'd social position, and- well-to-do, marries his cousin, a placidly amiablo person,-with'whom he iinagiiies himself in love, whereas 'opportunity' and environment Jiave had far more" to' do 'with tho match than any deep-seated attachment—oil liis; side .at least. A second young lady, from India, turns up, and it is'not long before sho is recognised' by young Holroyd as- his natural affinity. Thenceforward "the-, story resolves • itself .into the narrative, of the deep and deeper attachment' 'of tho' young husband and the lady who is not' his wife;, the efforts'honestly, made.by each to war against anything dishonourable,either ill thought or deed; and tlie mental'anguish by" which the'poor ivifo ' is bewra'iight' when she discovers' the ; truo position. Early in tho; story a' reader of ordinarily acute intelligence' will seo that tho wife is 'to bo sacrificed, but ifr. Benson engineers .{i. .. difficult situation ivith consummate.(rood taste, if perhaps the actual conclusion is, carried- out'on somewhat hackneyed- lines. It is not, ho.w£.v&r,. in. either the heroes jibor creature At the best—or tho!

heroines that tho reader will be most interested. Tho dominating figure in tho story is a nominally minor character, an ease-loving, wealthy, and supremely selfish aunt, Mrs. Hancock. Here is a 'character of whioh Tliaokeray himself might; well have been proud. 13y all means read Mr. Benson's latest story, if only in order to make acquaintance with this clover creation of his. . . . "THE VEILED LIFE." Despite, more than an occasional toiicli which betrays the amateur, Mrs. Henrietta Goldie's story, "The Veiled Life" (William Heinemann, per George Robertson and Co.), is an. ably-written" and convinoing study of a young girl's experiences in life. The heroine is a country lass, who goes as kitchenmaid into a great house, and is pursued by a,young feUo.w, a jand agent, with his u'nwelcomo attentions.. The man clearly y aims at: a TOlgar triumph in seduction, but- the girl's -virtue- and-common sense save her, and eventually, though no.t, loving, she..consents to marry ..him. The- marriage turns' out badly,' for the husband drinks heavily,. and is both brutal and miserly. -It is also the girl's misfortune t<ji attract 1 the-atten-tion of another" man,; more, of.'her ovyn class,- but ai'Teligious crank .of., surpriss-. ing self-conceit -and: 6tupidity.'". -This secon3 ; experience very-nearly leads' tho girl into., moral, shipwreck,. but iu the long run'we leave her on the'point 'of I marriage to a chivalrous aJid; very jolly young.-doctor, who";' befriends"her' in what 'is furher ,» epecially dangerous" hoiir. ■ ;The : ;charact;er of-the heroine is drawi with great-care, her faults ,as well as,her-, v.irtues, being laid.bare' by the a i uthor..'.lti the opening, chapters the story 'maj;' suggest "memories'" of Moore's p'myerful but unple'asaut story,"Esther Waters." But as it 'proceeds it is. easy to -see that; the _.noyel;;owes' little, if indeed "anything,'to either Mr. Moore's.'oilany other,' ; 6tory.'in;.whioh a poor servant- - girl- has been the bprorne. Mri." Goldip's" next novel will be. awdit.ed .with." "kime -interest,': for. ,"The,,Veiled;Life"..is"d6eidedly a st-bry of much promise.';. :' . MERE MELODRAMA. -- Of- Mr. -Ranger Gull's-highly sensational story, "The Enemies of England-'-(Sta.nley..Paul and-- Coi) } ": I'need: iiot; say very much. ■ It describes the various and; often'.' qmte 'diabolically - ingenious devices of ; a gang-of- mysterious' crimi-' ftals, who . try-to' : steal the .isecret-of . wonflerful-'new hydroplane invented by Captain Basil Briio'e,;. R.N., cf the "Naval "Flying" ' Corps.".,. The explosion : of : a ' ' .presentation ■ivatch, "which -is in reality _an "infernal machine, and the fastening of' the hero and a faithful assistant in a tank into \vliich,, when filled water,-a gigantic crocodile will ,be let', loose by a horrible; "West. Indian- negress, servant to a' besutiiul "gueefl of.musical comedy" whose wicked attractions-the .virtuous and/patribtih .young captain has "scorned." are two only of a long series of; "with' which'" tio.;;sf'6'ry." i| generously'packed. ; ;'f " : V BL il E - WAf ER. From Messrs.- -Hbdder and Stoughton I have received a"co'py of Mr. ,F.. ,W.. Wallace's fine story,of. the Nova Scotian fisheries* an.d .fishermen,' entitled /"Blue Ayiiter—a Tale'.'of the. Deep. Sea' Fishermen.";;. Of; this .story, a lengthy ' appeared in. this ;]*oiirnal 'early in,.. January. last, it:,is.-ilQnly-,. necessary to say.'tliat those, who/ have: not -yet read what is .a- far -better story than ]Kipling!s „ . "Captains "- '.Courageous, wjiich' deals"..with 'very :; much. the :samo characters, should do" so ; without; delay!