BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 83, 14 May 1914, Page 5

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

A MILITARY NOVEL. 4 'IN THE COCKPIT OF EttROPE." Lieutenant-Colonel Alsager Pollock, the author of ."In the Cockpit of Europe" (George Bell and • Sons;, per Whitcombe and Tombs), ,! is;,: ;a %ellknown writer on military strategy. He has put into fictional, form his views on what he believes, to be the ' ( correct strategy and conduct" to be observed by British commanders: were , Germany to declare war against .France and Great Britain, and .were • the. latter Power to dispatch troops to the BelgianGerman frontier. He describes, with raucli picturesque detail, two great battles, the British and Belgian troops playing a conspicuously important part, and there is a fine air of realism in liis account of the part played in the great struggle by dirigibles and aeroplanes. The Germans are defeated, one result of their discomfiture being the secession of Saxony, Hanover, and other States from the German Empire. The success of thes Triple Entente is due very largely, to the courage of the Belgian Government, once it makes up its inind to relinquish its neutrality, in denuding Antwerp of regular troops in order that efficient forces should be more usefully disposed elsewhere. Colonel Pollock says in his preface:—"ln this case I have deliberately imagined Belgium adopting the strategically Sound course, ithough fully recognising that the wrong thing might actually be done in a real war.'' The naval side of the war is not enlarged upon. Only one great naval battle was fought during the entire period of conflict, and that took place between Dover and Ostend during the passage of the Channel by the expeditionary force:—

"Tactically the result was indecisive, but strategically it was enough. The Germans lost more ships than the British, but the latter were in no condition to complete what would have been a victory of very slight value had they not possessed in reserve so many obsolete or obsolescent vessels to replace at sea the disabled 'super-Dread-noughts.' The battle of Ostend left Germany with hardly a modern battleship that had not suffered damage, which months of day and night labour would be required to repair. In the Mediterranean, a cleverly-contrived comedy of strategical deception brought about a tragedy for the Austrian fleet, which was destroyed by the AngloFrench. The Italian fleet never afterwards dared to put to sea; though single ships inade some daring raids against British commerce, and occasionally with Buccess. The principal moral lesson of the war was to emphasise the importance of numbers, not only in the first line, but also in second.'' •A feature of the war is the' part played by a force from India, which, landed at Marseilles, defends the French frontier against Italian attacks. Russia at first moves slowly, but, when once active, effectually checks Austrian aid to Germany. Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian contingents are alscfe dispatched to Europe, the New Zealanders (10,000 of them) landing at Marseilles just in time to hear of the declaration of peace, but not too late to be right royally entertained by the grateful and jubilant Parisians. The personal adventures, in the war, of a young English officer, and the effect of the war upon everyday life in a country village, help to carry the story through as a piece of fiction, but the main interest and value of the book. lies in its careful analysis of the

probable happenings on the BelgianGerman frontier, and the disposition and movements of the opposing forces. The author might, perhaps, have spared us his somewhat biased views on British polities, and politicians, but it is only natural for the soldier to despise the mere and, after all, his remarks are not ill-n4tured. Two maps of the territories where the fighting occurs should be most useful to the reader who takes the story, as it is meant to be taken, as a serious study of a probable situation.

In " The Thousandth Woman" (George Bell arid Sons, per Whitcombe and Tombs), E. W. Hornung, of "Baffles/'fame, gives us a well-written story of a mysterious murder, and the part played in the solution of the mystery by a young Australian and a middleaged American. Mr Hornung exhibits no small ingenuity in side-tracking those of his readers who may quite early in the novel imagine they have "spotted" the real murderer, and the introduction of a pretty love story provides some agreeable contrast to the darker shades of the narrative.

The late David Graham Phillips must have left behind him quite a respectably large quantity of work in manuserip, for three or four volumes bearing his name have alteady appeared since his death. The latest is "Degarmo's Wife, and Other Stories" (D. Appleton and Co.; per George Robertson and Co.). The volume contains three stories, each of which displays the special gift which this American novelist possessed for depicting the working of the feminine mind. In the title story we are shown the gradual change in the point of view, on society and life generally, which is brought about in a middle : aged, wealthy, and self-indul-gent club man, by a young wife who is possessed of a certain force of character, as well as much physical beauty. In the second, "Enid," the leading characters are two young married people who gradually drift apart, and contemplate a divorce, but who are compelled. to make the best of what hits threatened to become a permanently unhappy marriage, and finally attain true happiness. '' White Eoses and Red," the third story, deals with the love of a young girl for a man of fortyfive. It ends on a note of real tragedy. All three stories are well written, and are quite worthy of the pen from which we had those fine novels, "Old Wives for New," "The Husband's Story," and " White Magic. "

The plot of Mr Ernest Bavies's clev-erly-written "detective stoiy," "The Widow's Necklace" (Duckworth and Co.; per George Robertson), turns upon a robbery, at a country house, of a diamond necklace, worth £20,000. Two detectives, one a Scotsman, the other (who is assisted by his wife), an American, are employed to solve the mystery, and the special theories and methods of each are very cleverly contrasted. It is the American who succeeds, and he, seeing an opportunity of securing the necklace for himself, succumbs, alas, to the temptation; the actual thief, more, under the special circumstances of the case, to be pitied than condemned, committing suicide. Much as one must admire the audacity and ingenuity of the Yankee thief-catcher, who himself ends as a thief, most readers will join with me in deploring his successful escape with the booty. There is some good character-drawing in the earlier chapters, and the story throughout is on a much higher plane of literary merit than are most efforts of this kind.

Methuens have added one of Arnold Bennett's earlier stories, '' The Gates of

Wrath," to their tl Shilling Novels" series. Entitled "a melodrama," it is as highly sensational as the devourers of "shilling shockers" could desire. But for two characters alone, the coldblooded adventurers and would-be murderers, Dr Colpus and Madame Carolossi, the story is well worth reading. Dr Colpus is almost as good a villain —forgive the seeming paradox—as Wilkie Collins's Count Fosco in "The Woman in White."

"Marcelle the Lovable" (Greening and Co.) is an English translation of Auguste Maquet's novel, "Les Vertes Feuilles." Maquet was, it may be remembered, one of the many collaborators of Alexandre Dumas. It was his lot to "devil up" historical matters for his chief, and in the composition of the "Three Musketeers" series, the "Valois Romances," and even of 11 Monte C'hristo,'' he played no unimportant part. Andrew Lang has put on record his opinion that when Maquet wrote strictly on his own account he was unreadable, but certainly, after reading Mr Monkhood's translation of "Les Vertes Feuilles," I am inclined to consider Mr Lang was too severe. For the story lias a very charming heroine in Marcelle de la Blinais, and a quite first-class villain, and contains many interesting pictures of French life of the period dealt with. The translation is a little stiff, especially in the latter chapters, but this fact will not prevent readers following the narrative from first to last with unabating interest.

Louise Mack, the ex-Australian—-what good, short stories she used to write for the "Bulletin"!—is only moderately successful in her latest novel, "The Marriage of Edward" (Mills and Boon; per George Robertson). Alice St. John, whose parents are of ''high degree,'' but desperately poor, is about to marry a rich man, whose money will make life easier for the family. But an old lover writes to say he is. on his way home from India, and Alice rebels. To save the family, a younger sister, Ariadne, comes to the rescue, and the desirable parti, Edward Harding, most conveniently for all concerned, suddenly discovers that it is Ariadne, and not Alice, with whom he had been in love. Later on the elder sister's fiance turns up, and believing that he has been robbed of his love, and that Alice is Harding's wife, "sees red," and "pots" the millionaire hubby in his garden. When the husband recovers, he is led, by an unscrupulous widow, who had long coveted such a desirable prize, to believe that his young wife is carrying on a guilty intrigue, and she, to save her sister's lover, refrains from telling the truth. The plot is ingeniously entangled, but Ariadne, who has learnt to love her husband very passionately, plays a noble part, and the story ends quite satisfactorily for all concerned, Readable, but not in any way notable.