In An Easy Chair.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 11997, 4 September 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

In An Easy Chair.

BOOKS'AND -WKITEUS. Tilings'went very much nutisu indeed with .Miss 'rhirvnev \\aniens latest hero in "Lady Rodivay's Ordeal.'\ Ik •as an 'upright young niau who Mine 'from Canada, to ..Englawi uxruy to *.-laim his. title and cstal.-s, or at any rate to sec if ho- eoiild net make some Friendly arrangement with' the % man who wlio was unlaw fully in |»osscsoion wfboth. Hardly had he landed when lie was set upon in a country lane and tanged about the head. Then for several days he was unjustly suspected i«f-murder, and snubbed Tight and left. Then, as though that was net enough, •lie was pitched-over a cliff and left fvr dead. He it was. it seems to us, .•;h« was subjected to an *" ordeal'' and nut Lady Kodway. who had . little tv do except to look on in aristocratic reserve while these, and other highly esciting events were taking pluee. We have. a» hlc? th-it in writing this story Miss Florence Warden did not know froin page., to page what her characters 'www- : to'.'do next. She seems to have got'them into certain situations and then trusted .to inspiration to extricate tbeni.. The inspiration never failed, hut )t sometimes seems to have conic a littlesuddenly. .Thus we g'» on from surprise- to surprise. . ' "Mobn. of! Valleys" is a story of "treasure seeking, and'is considerably, above the average of stories with the came wcli-woru-motive. As a rule tile, people.lu treasure seeking stories arc coninionolacc people with a bad liabit'of trying tu be 'funny frequent intervals. The people here, or most '.of them, are clever and rather interesting scamps. Were they oil a slightly .lower social level they 'would be* tilled ."crooks:"- TJie chart ; w-hich toklwhere the treasure- lay concealed, was .stolen by one scamp from the pocket of another awhile he was! dining in a restaurant: .The chief of 'the expedition, who' financed it, was a Jew who lived by swindling in a large' way, AndT. his.'lieutenant was ; a gentleman iwho had sotiereft five years' penal serTitude.for something 'nefarious,' the details of'which arc not given. Then there iwas.. one actor - who, ihorsi lly, was worse than all -the rest put together, and lie, so little didactic in its intention or achievement, is this entertain-' ing story, came off best/ If Mr Whitelaw's tale has a moral —in point of fact it hasn't—it is that the influence of a ; ?goou% ! and 'very lovely, giil is potent' to redeem; a weak-baeked aristocra* even whtu he is' halfway towards *'•■:■■-_.•■ '.-■'■'

' The -.authors (A. * and D. James) id "Stolen Honey'l liare omitUd -to tell what or whose honey it was tuat was stolen.*, i The only thing one can" dracorcr thai was stolen was a iliplomatie dispatch ..written by tlie British representative in Taugicr and entrusted to his-secretary. 11 was stolen fr«un that secretary by a very attractive Spanish boy njiutu he befi icuded. but as it Was returned witli **al iwbrukfn a day or, two later the theft'was not : of great"., importance- Tlie Mirpnse comes when ten years later th.»t attractive Spanish buy turus up in England as an even Juvrc. « attractive n English girl engaged to be married to the secretary V 'elder" brother I Aaturally explanatmns are, cajlcd, for, and iu coarse of time they arc satisfactorily forthcoming." When we say satisfactor-ily*-wenneah y that tlicy arc satisfactory to -us and to the secretary. Tlicy did not satfcrV brother, who considered, "that* a young English woman who had once' b*en a Spann-h boy with a habit of stealing dispatches wa» au unsuitable' wnV for the heir to a b.iroactcv,-. But "that on the whole was just as wrcin"- It enables the authors to-end'their story as" a' feeling.fer rosuch ttonc, should beJcnUed. *' _ " t has travelled much. and in < 4 <f«aint Subjects of the King, ' he aakejftsood>wse ef past experiences and. opportunities. He takes his readers .to, many of the by-place* of- the world where the Union Jack Ibcs, and shows-us how very curious humanity is when' secir tlirougb stranger eyes. Th» satsgedaadyt with his paint, feathem, ami tattoo-marks, made in'the name «iF lore or the god «»f war. is to -■ u» astranw? creature, inviting the cn-riositv"wlurb-:IHrrBRS on uroitsonient, just'as ire nttft brio the lfiii Inlanders or the abprigtnc& of'Australi*' or the Kachinisv Angoni. and other of the natire products of the hintcr-lands of the world, with out »irn?3s«»nabl«« hats and trailing dresses anr' White-bancl aud Boud-strect grafcesl One of thew days our humorists will -lion- us John Bull and his island* as seen .through a Marlr- . fellow's eves", much as N»1I s friend,,Lien.Chi Altangi, did in his long seine* of 'hnn•••• 1 b*tt<-n» written home to China. * There is great icopc th-rc'lnr wnn* Itcaltbv.'iM-m-fic-Jil fun. •• Quaint Subjects of the King," is not a book tocritkise. It is-a* breezy record jof strange doings and experiences, and will be a mine of interest to the • curious, about humanity. Whether the severe aiitbroi»>|-»uii.t Will find a itlacr for it on his shelf among- tlie really scientific works is very doubtful: but the jrtay-*t-boinc who travel* tho veas in armchair, drcahis will fiml it entcrtainine. instructive, and assuredly amusing.

■■•; Judging/rrwm ihlk' frontispiece, presents -»'/ y»iing:r woman in evening dress falling to Imr feet, carryins » : pitcher tlirotigli k sniiset - iwtirs tlwt -Mr! -IJcening's new book would > in Hip ■rei.-.v of anil lfcfaiii«\" On the whole we were rather iilcasrd to find ourselves mistaken. "Tlic 'Ketl Saint?* is a story of the HaronS' War, and an interesting ami air-extroniely wrll writtenstory Mr Deeping ha* «ho faciiltr, rare "in .writers of historical: novels", of oeius able to ereate an atmosphere .soffiHeiitly without makinis hi* ebar»trt"rs talk j»» ■> dead language or in a language t»=tl p-vnr »-.••« jmoken by *;«n of jp.?n..JM"of D?nwe b a n=rd -Or*?. *hc sad, deit st^re-»b»t ••»» lie m-n, tlmuglit it mndit be toW'cf many » himdred w-.n who UA th« mi«foH.ii." to V living -t a »«w » „,' rn'lber t»-»-nimb ?"d onr ieejini?'. V** • , ',,..- r f i!i» rather too often in «"* \X t w shrewdly, lore, n.mance,. and pathos.. "J rj'^ Montfort .-ml that of t|.e nattle of Lewes; and even tiiat JtKrintion is- beaten by the acwnnt of !SeTbHttle lieat it ,vs is.- ;s niastcrlv on. a small eanras *s on a Urge pnc. His, sjiglit skejtehes are as TitaF as his elaborately finished pictures. Half a minate a f ter- a character is introduced that chefscter is

realised and not easily forgotten. There is not a silicic doll in all tins longish story of hard" upon four hundred pages, not a single episode that one lias tlie faintest inelination to skin. To say so miieli of a work of.historical fiction is to acclaim a triumph.