AMONG THE SYRINGAS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2467, 26 June 1901, Page 76

AMONG THE SYRINGAS.

B\r Maiiy E. Maxv. London : T. Ti&ker Uim in. Of a different style i.s the next book on our list — the difference that lies, for one thing, between the -work of the master and the apprentice, and which never fails to make itself felt to the critical reader The story of a handsome, lonely, half-educated girl, living a purely emotional life in the shabby home which is presided over by her idle, selfish father, and ruled by the warmhearted^ rough,, .general servant vtko coni-

bines in her own person the offices of housekeeper, cook, nurse, and maid of all work — this is the sole plot of " Among the Syringa=.'' Bartnra Bain has few acquaintances—their hopeless poverty and her stepfather's selfish seclusion preclude thai. >She is idle with the idleness of the hopelessly uneducated ; at war with the world which denies her the recognition to which her birth entitles her, and discontented with herself for the very faults which &he will nut try to conquer. Without friends, pursuits, interests, or education, beautiful Barbara f:ill« an easy prey to the first emotion Tvhich daviiis upon her dull life. She lavishes her v.iWe heart and soul — to use the approved phrase — on a certain Captain Steer, a fine-looking, reserved, and singularly undemonstrative person, who draws, a moderate salary as the agent for a large estate in the neighbourhood. This estate formerly belonged to a great friend of Captain Steer, who ha.s recently died and left his wealth to the vulgar wife whom he married late in life. Between the absurd mistakes of the florid widow, her extravagant demands for sympathy, and the difficulty of rescuing her from all sorts of -social blunders, Captain Steer's duties os agent and confidential advi&er are no sinecure. It is a relief from the wearing anxieties of the day, no doubt, to spend an hour in billing and cooing with Barbara in the scented gloom of the evening, hidden by the wild luxuriance of the Syringa hedge ! Sentiment is one thing, however, and busintss is another ; — a Tact which Barbara i* suddenly called upon to realise. In th«» course of a desultory conversation with the Rev. Melancthon. one afternoon. Captain Steer announces his approaching marriage to the rich Mrs Carter, whose estates he now proposes to share as well as to manage. The next development is a short time subsequent to the marriage, when Captain Steer warmly urges his wife's proposal that Barbara shall accept the post of companion to her, at a liberal salary. This, strange to say, Barbara consents to do, abandoning her shabby, miserable home and family to the entire charge of the old servant Sheba. There are some touches of humour about the character-drawing and descriptions of Barbara's brother and sisters, some pathos in the episode of the little boy whose iather pays the Rev. Melancthon a ■handsome annual sum to educate and " surround with the comforts of a home " his motherless child. Barbara grows into the habit of writing long, rambling, ill-spelled let-, tcrs to " the man in India " who pays so well to have his child — neglected. j It is "the man from India," who, when his little son has died, when Barbara 'has been rescued by Mrs iSteer from running -away with Captain Steer, and there seems neither place nor use in all the world for poor, foolish Barbara, appears on the desolate scene. He has come all the way from India to ask Barbara to marry him, and what can she say but "Yes."

This, it will be observed, is — to slightly alter a popular advertisement — a book wr.tten by a woman for women.