AMONG THE BOOKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2850, 28 October 1908, Page 88

AMONG THE BOOKS.

"The Last Shore," by Vincent Brown. ' Warwick Colonial Library. London : Messrs Hodder and Stoughton, agents. Dunedin : Messrs R. J. btark and Co. Iff "The Last Shore" Mr Vincent Brown, who has made a specialty of cases of conscience, introduces some strange characters in his desire to give readers an analysis of a soul struggling with the impulse to confess. Some may be inclined j to doubi> "wlxetlier Izis iieroxzi^ ii^xs any oon- ' science or moral cense, or ev«D high character. She is introduced as " clothed from her neck to her feet in. clinging pale yel- I low flannel, braided with pale blue." Surely a singular costume. Lord Renvil, her husband, is a drunken beast, who has : dissipated his fortune, and is living on j th© few steady friends left to him. Laura Renvil is a fascinating woman, who is not unreasonably regarded as somewhat of an adventuress. Two men are in love with her — Hugh Lanfranc, a strong, rather silent man, who has a strong regard -for the conventions ; and Charles Confessor. Thd latter is rich, and Lord Renvill lives for some time on^ his money, but eventually becomes madly jealous, and attempts to shoot him. Confessor flies from the home in a panic and becomes lost in a wood. Late the same night he finds himself face to faoa witJi Lord Renvil, wfio tias by this time drunk himself into a 6ottish condition. The temptation to shoot the man and rid the world of a scoundrel is great, but Renvil wakes in time, and renews his attempt on Confessor's life. This ends, in his falling down & staircase, at the foot of which he is found dead nex* morning. No suspicion attaches Ho Confessor, but with him is "the knowledge that in intention he was guilty of murder, and that he made no effort to assist Renvil after the fall. The situation) is set out in detail in the first portion of the book. Then comes the. struggle between Confessor and his conscience and his evil spirit, a melodramatic villain named Hackworth. Laura Renvil has to decide between Confessor and Lanfranc, and 'her decision is decidedly original, . rather startling, and calculated to somewhat shock 'those who have much regard for the conventions. _ One cannot but admire the author's skill in tracing the soul's adventures, his cloEe study of character, and his decided originality. .The story has to be read carefully tosfore its true inwardness can -b* fully 'realised. Opinions as to Laura. Renvil will probably differ widely, and to many colonial readers she may seem impossible, because it is not easy to realis© the full force of environment. >ijA i £ - jaa te i *---*-is| "Tho Mystery of Myrtle Cottage." By Oswald Crawtobd, C.M.G. Warwick Colonial - Library. London : , Messrs Hodder and Stoughton,- sole agents. Dunedin : Messrs R. Ja °<ark and Co. "The^ Mystery of Myrtle Cottage" is a novel with a purpose — namely, to give a conditional answer to that much-discussed question, " Can woman hold her own with man If she descends into the fighting arena and contends therein for supremacy?" The story is of one of two clever girls who go into the great world of ondon as men. They had come to the conclusion that in that disguise their chances of making their way would be greatly increased. Both had received their education from their father, a great painter, and their training was t more in the nature of that given to boys' than to girls. One takes to journalism and the other to painting. The story is entertainly told in a somewhat serio-comic manner, and it is far from convincing. Jane and Hetty Stuart, alias Jack and Hany Power, are doubtless exceptional persons, but th-3 reader may well doubt whether they could pass themselves off as young men in a club composed of artists, journalists, and other Bohemians. As young hien they are depicted as more than holding their own, and as young and handsome women they are more than a match for two young aristocrats! whom they meet in their proper characters on a voyage from Italy to England. How they pay them off for insulting behaviour is well told, and the storm at sea is capitally described. As an entertaining novel, " The Mystery of Myrtle Cottage " its. delightful enough, and will be thoroughly enjoyed, but as a serious argument in support of the avowed purpose it can only be laughed at. And after all that may have been, the purpose the author had in . view. "The Mystery of the Cottage" ie ; that it is ocupied by the girls as girls, while they occupy an adjourning lodge as ; Jack and Harry Power.

"John Vane. Bushranger." By CnARi.F.s White. N.S/W. Booketali Co., 476 George street, Sydney. Mr ChaTlee White is well known as the author of a good -deal of literature concerning the bufihratrgers of the early days. Of Ben Hall's gang, who terrorised the Ballarat district ol New South Wales in the early sixties, all but one tame to a violent end. Hall and Gilbert were shot by the police, and Burke and O'Meally by those whom they had attacked. Dunn wat, captured and hanged. John Vane, who was but a youth, gave himself up on the advice of a priest, was sentenced to 15 years' impiibonment, wa6 releaf-ed after serving about five years, and then lived quietly unti' 1906, when he died at the age of 64 year.*. The author had known Vane almost from boyhood, and before his death induced him to tell the story of his career. That story is now given to the reading public with, we aie assured, "nothing fictitious, nothing over, drawn, and no attempt to embellish." It i» simply told, and has none of the plimour which u.«uallv attends tlk.- tellinc; of «.uch tales. If tii? =Tory of a bushranger tnikt be t'Jd.' certainly Mr White has adopted the le.»={ harmful foim. So ■ far as Vane v.\i» c-ii coined, !:p v, as liot led into crime. Ho be~r<n by .stealing ! cattle on Ire own account. Then in i ' iiali fim " h;> stuck up a Cuinunian.

After this he and another youth rode up to a opuntry hotel with blackened faces. Vane declared they had no firearms, and they took nothing;. They accepted the publican's invitation to play cards, and they lost money to him. A warrant was taken out- for this frolic — senseless rather than criminal. The otheryouth was captured, and acquitted on the ground "that there was no felonious intent. Vane decided to keep out of the way, and, knowing the country well, evaded the police. But- the police were "ever active, and Vane was driven into the arms, of Ben Hall's gang. The activity of the police, though in one respect ineffective, re- , stricted the operations of, the robbers, who were guilty of many mean thefts, far removed from <.ac daring deeds apt to be ! associated with the name of buslrranger. j Chinamen were robbed of a little gold j dust, and a storekeeper of 15s. A woman I who kept a. store, protested that she had never interfered with the gang, and yet she said " You come here and rob me." "Ah!" replied O'Meally, "but you're not a working wan." A country bank was attacked by Gilbert and O'Meally, but they bolted at once 3n the manager firing a shot. Bathurst. w?s l'aided, but when aj number of women "in the first shop visited screamed for the police, and a "crowd began to assemble, the bushrangers galloped away. The district was terrorised despite Ben Hairs strict injunctions to his men that they were to shoot no one except in self-defence. There was a heavy reward on the head of each of the gane, dead or alive, and the fact of their having been outlawed was not without its effect. Petty robberies went on. and shots were exchanged occasionally, but the life led by the fugitives from justice was not of a nature to be envied. They were all much annoyed when O'Meally reported that he had killed a receiver who had cheated them. Th© only really exciting event in which the gang engaged while Vane was witih them was the attack _on Commissioner KeigHley'e home. There was a siege,- during which Burke, one of the £a>ng, was shot dead. Keisphley surrendered, and his ransom was fixed at £500, the price he would receive for killing Burke. Mrs Keighlev's ride to obtain the money has been told in song and story. Vane" hint" that Burkp was probably shot by one of bis maft& with a grudge against him. The position was now more serious than ever. The reward for the capture of the gang, dead or alive, was raised to £1000. Vane, recognising that the life ■would end only in one way — on the gallows, — quietly left' the otherß, and on the undertaking of leather M'Carthy that his life would be spared, surrendered to the (police, with tfie result stated above. Tbft story of an exefiing period is simply told, and is evidently Arue so far as the narrator I knew the facts. Older reader* will recall the interest taken in the doings of the Tbuehraaigers and the police, and how, on arrival of the mails from Australia, every scrap of news was eagerly devoured. As a picture of a nsriod quite recent th« book is not without its value, _ and as there is no attempt to elevate into the nosition of heroes a set of men who preferred to lead a vagabond criminal life rather than gain an honest livelihood by work, it is not likely to prove a danger to youthful readers.