PLEASANT AND HUMOROUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3764, 4 May 1926, Page 78

PLEASANT AND HUMOROUS.

“The Dean and Jecinora.” By Victor L. Whitechurch. (Cloth, 7s Cd net.) London: T. Fisher Unwin. Readers in quest of a brightly-written, wholesome story, with characters who enlist sympathy, and lively, dramatic interest, but containing nothing to harrow or depress, will be well suited by Mr Wliitechurch’s new novel. In “A Bishop Out of Residence,” “The Canon’s Dilemma,” and other previous books Mr Whitechurch has depicted life in cathedral towns and clerical circles in an able and agreeable manner, and the present tale of the gentle, likeable Dean ot Frattenbury and the predicament in which he is entangled through his loyalty to a ne’er-do-weel brother is likely to be fully as popular as its forerunners. The story has a second hero, who divides the interest with the Dean, and it is he who is concerned with “Jecinora,” which is not the name of s young ladVj as might be thought, but of a medicine for liver trouble. The first chapter shows us the inventor, Julian Bruce Stanniland, arriving in his motor car at Frattenbury, and, with rapidity which paralyses the clerical circle of the town, concluding a bargain for the purchase of a vacant house in the Close, adjoining the Dean’s. He rechristens it “Super House,” a name which puzzles the neighbours till they discover that it is the title of an excellent table relish prepa.ed by Bruce and Co., London—that is, by the chemical genius who embodies the mythical company. For Stanniland combines skill in scientific chemistry with financial enterprise; he invents, and puts his products on the market. His attention is attracted by the advertisement of Peggy, the Dean’s niece, for a position as “typist or secretary or chauffeur; good salary essential,” and an interview in his London office results in Peggy’s engagement. Peggy is an agreeable study of an up-to-date, self-confi-dent, but thoroughly seund-natured vouug woman, and the story of her relations with her employer, who begins by treating her very curtly, but erftls by falling in love with her, is in pleasing contrast to the too common treatment of love in contemporary fiction. But, business and love together, the tale of Stanniland and Peggy does not account for much space. Most of this is occupied with the Dean and his troubles. The Dean, who is a scholar, a bachelor, and of retiring, unworldly disposition, has only lately entered on his deahship. His brother, who is of wholly opposite character, but very like the Dean in appearance (on which likeness hinges the plot), has led an idle, unsettled life and neglected his daughter P e f?gy» who scarcely knows of her father’s existence. Through entanglement with n fraudulent company promoter, he is wanted on a criminal charge. He comes to the Dean, assures him that if time is given him he will be able to prove his innocence, and begs his brother to help him to avoid arrest in the meantime. How the Dean arranges that his brother shall take the Continental trip he had arranged for himself, how he goes into hiding in a little country seaside village, and what complications, result—this all makes material for lively narrative with good character sketches and sprightly dialogue. Everyone will like the Dean, sympathise with his troubles, and be pleased with the satisfactory termination of all the entanglements of the story.