SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3082, 12 May 1917, Page 13

SOME RECENT FICTION

"The Bathing Man." The opening scones of Miss Agues GWynne's' lively and well-told story, "The Bathing Man" (John Lano) are laid in England, but for tlio most part the background is Italian, to be exact, the little seaside pleasure resort of Santa Maria, on tbo Gulf of Genoa. The leading charaoter, Jack Saxsonham is a happy-go-lucky young Englishman, . who is harshly ' treated by his father, a surly and suspicious egotist who fails to detect the shiftiness and moral weakness of his younger son, Thurston. Jack fails in his examinations, and is at a loose end when some money is missed from liia father's desk. Falsely accused of being a thief and tired of being continually sworn at, the young fellow runs away from home, is formally disinherited, and for some timo is not heard of. He turns up, howover, as a "bathing man" at' Santa Maria, where, as Giacomo, ha becomes a general favourite. Having lived in Italy as a boy,iho knows the language and Italian and a long-neglected talent for music being developed he becomes in time a musician in the modest little local orchestra. He is made a special pet of by two old Scottish ladies, saves the life of an Italian boy, the only son of a rich Marchese, and finally his good name is re-established by the lucky discovery of a friendly American relative. By this time, however, he has been discovered as a mere "bathing man" by his cousin Betty, to whom he had been engaged before leaving England. The young lady's love, however, had long since evaporated, and when she marries an Italian nobleman, Jack sits down cheerfully enough to wait until a really delightful little lady, of -mixed Italian and English parentage, is old enough to make him happy, a fortune conveniently loft him by an aunt who had always had a soft corner in 'her heart for the supposed scapegrace enabling him to live in comfort in the Italy he has learned to love. ;Tho story is written in a simple,'but eminently agreeable, style, the Italian scenes being full of picturesque colour and ripe with vitality. Jack is a most engaging Hero. and there are some, specially clever studies of child life. Altogether a very fresh and agreo'able novel. "Martin Valllant," In "Martin . Valliant" .(Cassell and Co., per S. and W. Mackay), Mr. Warwick Deeping has gone "back his favourite mediaeval period, and gires ub some stirring pictures of the England of Richard Crookback's days. His hero, Martin Valliant, is a young monk, inclined to an' ascetism not equally favoured by his older associates, one' of whom, a thoroughly evil fellow, plots his downfall, but only succeeds in turning the young ecclesiastic into a lighting layman. His rescue from dishonour of Mollis Dalo, a comely damsel, whoso father liad been murdered by the wicked Roger Bland, the' Lord of Troy, plunges both man and maid into a sea of trouble and adventures, for Mellis, who wears the red rose of the Lancastrians, has come to warn her old friends of the forest that the decisivo battle 'twixt. the two parties is soon to bo fought, o.nd that every man must rally to the standard. Tfio Lord of Troy, who is cf the White RoSe party, plots her death, but with her galtont rescuer she goes to her ruined home, and the pair ba.rricß.da themselves against the enemy. The tide of fortune ebbs and flows for the plucky adventurers and their enemies, but- .'the end of the story finds true love and courage triumphant. The story has a fine swing with it. ' Mr. Deeping has wisely refrained from attempting any arohaicisms. That sort of tiling is better left to Mr. Maurice Hewlett, who, •in "The Forest Lover." and "Riohard Yea and Nay, employed it very successfully. But even in his well-practised hands the trick is apt at times to become tiresome. The story baa that fullblooded flavour which the period suggests, and must he accorded ono of Mr. Deeping's happiest efforts in this particular genre. "The Four Just Men of Cordova." Mr. Edgar Wallace's now story, "The Four Just Men of Cordova" (Ward, Lock and Co., per Whjtcombe and Tombs), deals with the justice executed upon a. gang of clever swindlers by a mysterious tribunal which operates from tho ancient city of Cordova. The head of the gang, Colonel Blaok, is a, bucket-shop keeper in London, has an unpleasant, way of "removing" any doubtfully trustworthy associate by poison, and is in many ways an exceptionally ingenious and dangerous criminal. Except in tho opening chapter, tho background of tho story, is in Lou- j

don, a young nobleman who has quar- r rolled with a particularly cantankerous uncle; and lias beoome a policeman, playing a prominent part in the exposure of the colonel's villainy. Needless to say there is an incidental love story. Mr- Wallace can concoct a, very fair detective yarn, but his latest effort in this direction is but poor stuff compared with his West African storms. (Reviews of other .novels held over.)