BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3823, 21 June 1927, Page 74

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

AN HISTORICAL SETTING. “ Kelston of Kells.” By H. M. Anderson. (Cloth, 7s fid net.) Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons.

A very gallant gentleman was Simon Kelston, courtier, champion swordsman, and personal friend of the inconstant Charles 11, for imputed treason against whom he at last dies on the gallows. His father, a staunch Presbyterfan, had died in saving Charles’s life at Worcester, and Charles, who could show gratitude when it cost him nothing, permitted his son to retain without prejudice his father’s faith. As a boy Simon was page to the young Duke of Gloucester during the Stuart exile, and later was taken into the personal service of Charles, whom he followed to England at the Restoration. It is at the court of Charles that his 16-year-old cousin, Ann Kenedy, just arrived from her Scottish home, first meets him, and straightway loses her heart to him—though, indeed, she had already half lost it through reports of his gallant and chivalrous qualities. Ann has been appointed lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of York, first wife of the future King James II and mother of the two future English queens, Mary and Anne. The year of her arrival was 1669, when large areas of London W’ere still desolated through the ravages of the great fire. In a little while Henriette Anne, youngest sister of Charles, arrives in England to visit her brother, and Ann learns of the romantic and self-devoted passion that Simon cherishes for his princess—his “ Anne ” —whom he had come to love in the days of their common exile. Henriette, generally known as “ Madame,” is the wife of the worthless Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. Shortly after her return to France word is brought to Charles that she has died suddenly under circumstances that have caused suspicion that she was poisoned. In those days poisoning was so frequent that such . a suspicion was not unnatural, and it pointed to her husband, “ Monsieur,” and the Chevalier Lorraine. But there seems little reason to doubt that the duchess’s deatn was, as the doctors maintained, due to natural causes; she had long been in precarious health. Simon, in his first abandonment to grief and rage, is’ visited by Ann, whose womanly sympathy saves him from madness. Then he goes to France, resolved to seek out Henriette’s murderer and avenge • her. l .Charles, who was greatly attached to his sister, and who shares Simon’s belief that she has been poisoned, knows of his intentions, and agrees that it shall be given out that Simon has gone to his estate in Scotland. Then follows the most romantic episode in the b00k...-Simon, disguising himself,

interviews the confidential attendants of the late duchess, and then “ Monsieur ” himself, whom he hypnotises to make him reveal the truth. His answers convince Simon that he was no party to his wife’s death, but Simon lingers in Paris to attend the deferred obsequies of his princess, is arrested, confined in the Bastille, and for his presumption in hypnotising the king’s brother is condemned to have his right hand struck off. He obtains release on parole that he may play his violin for the last time to do honour to the object of his devotion. When Simon a few weeks later is returned to Charles, the king finds no use for a broken and maimed man, so Simon goes to his ancestral home, and the rest oi the story, ■winch occupies several years, shows him endeavouring to reconcile his duty to his sovereign with his duty to justice and humanity in those times of religious persecution and strife. Simon, though he would not renounce his father’s faith, has up to no-v been a Laudicean in matters of religion, and he is revolted by the intolerance and bigotry common among the Covenanters, but later realises for himself the vital convictions that enabled them to withstand persecution and suffering. ivuen he comes to Scotland the indulgence granted by Charles gives the Covenanters restricted liberty of religious practice. Later this is revoked, and Simon finds himself called upon to denounce religious resisters and suspected rebels. After previous imprisonment he is wounded and captured in the rout after the battle of Bothwell, and after much suffering is brought to trial, and dies as gallantly as he had many a time faced ueath anil endured pain.

The fortunes of Ann and her younger brother Walter contribute to the interest of the story. Simon is blind to the love of Ann, who comes Scotland after the death of the Duchess of York, and at her mother’s wish she marries Lord Glenample, an elderly roue, with whom Simon, who can use a sword with his left hand better than most men with their right, fights a duel. A large number of historical perso’ are connected with Simon’s history, and some, as Claverhouse, General Dalzell, and Gilbert Burnet, afterwards bishop and historian, are portrayed fully. The author’s treatment of the historical characters is consistent with what we know of them from authentic sources, and ail the persons of the story are lifelike. As a blending of history and high romance, Kelston of Kells ” possesses interest above the usual range of fiction. A STRONG LOVE STORY. “ The Old Countess.” By Anne Douglas Sedgwick .(Mrs Basil de Selincourt). (Cloth, 7s Gd net.) London: Constable and Company. The character who gives the title to this unusual and poignant love drama is an old Frenchwoman who had been a beauty under the second Empire. She is of the type of the “ Tante ” of a previous able story by the author; a thorough egoist -who has no conception of love but selfish passion, and is utterly without scruple or compunction once her jealousy is excited. But Madame de Lamouderie, instead of being beautiful, successful, and famous like the former sinister heroine, is, as we see her, very old, poor, altogether pitiable, in spite of her malignant jealousy in her abandonment to her passion for the handsome artist she comes on sketching the hills near her dwelling, and who volunteers to paint her portrait. It is she .vho stages the plot machinery and who brings the drama to its tragical ending. But without her the two other women of the story and their relations to each other and to the man who loves both, but one with a new and absorbing passion, would make material for a love drama of poignant interest.

It is Marthe Luderac who shelters and tends the old countess as she shelters and tends many a sick and hurt animal, and the young English wife, Jill Gr..ham, who are the heroines of the story. Jill is from the first strongly attracted by the silent, reserved French girl who shuns friendship, and of whose saintliness and ecentricities she hears from people of the neighbourhood. She learns from Marthe herself of the tragedy that has overshadowed her life—her mother in a jealous frenzy killed her father—and gives to Marthe understanding and friendship from which she thought herself shut out. Jill, who has driven an ambulance during the war, is superficially only a good example of upper-class English young womanhood—athletic, sport-loving, and mentally undistinguished—but in her capacity for unselfish love and self-abne-gation she stands apart. At first, she i-s only anxious that her husband, Dick Graham, should appreciate Marthe as she deserves. Later, when she realises his love for Marthe, she goes on loving both. Marthe has had no love, no happiness in her life, she feels, and M rthe and Dick seem destined for one another, so she would go away that they might find happiness together.

Richard Graham shows in a poorer light; it is not easy to understand how, loving and honouring Marthe for her purity and goodness, he could try to tempt her into a vulgar liaison. The old countess, consumed by malignant jealousy, vilely slanders Marthe to Graham, and when she finds her calumnies ineffectual she contrives that Marthe shall lose her life in the flood that sweeps down the Dordogne Valley. But the old countess is made thoroughly human despite her wickedness, as Marthe is human in her

goodness. The strength and subtlety iq dealing with character and emotion dis-, played in previous books by Anne Douglas, Sedgwick are found in full measure iq this last one. WILD WEST ROMANCE. “ The Stranger from Cheyenne.” Joseph Bushnell Ames. (Cloth, 2 dollars net.) New York: The Gen’ tury Company (per Dymock’s Book Arcade, Sydney). This story contains the usual of Wild West romance, and the author deals with them so as to provide an ex-: citing tale of popular quality. There iq the hero who encounters manifold perils and performs remarkable feats, and in the end comes out victorious; the v Ulain with whom he is in conflict; and the charming and courageous heroine. The scene of the drama is in the hill country of Wyoming in x a district which is ter-, rorised by the ruffianly Morg Branigaq and his gang of murderous cattle rustlers, The “ stranger from Cheyenne,” who comes to the backwoods town of Del Monte is Buck Devlin, who has set him-: self the task of coping with the BrauL gan gang. He is doped by hiis adversaries, but manages to stagger into the “ Broken Dollar ” saloon, where pretty Nance Austin is barmaid. His enemies try to murder him in his sleep the same night, but Nance gives the alarm, and saves him. Branigan is more successful in winning credence for a trumped-up charge, which leads to, Devlin’s being chased through the hills with a price on his head. While in hiding Devlin comes to Nance’s rescue when she is in deadly peril. After many exciting incidents Devlin is able triumphantly to disprove the charges against him, and turn the tables on Branigan, and the story closes with the promise of a life of happiness for Nance and the lato “ Stranger from Cheyenne.”