Chapter 4

Do not allow yourself to be put off by the title of _Captivating Mary Carstairs_ (CONSTABLE)--now published for the first time in England. It is not, as you might assume, a costume novel of eighteenth-century tushery. This is what I expected; but as a matter of fact Mr. HENRY SYDNOR HARRISON has written a tale about as unlike this as anything well could be. It is a capital tale, too; American to the last epithet, and crammed so full of the unexpected and adventurous that never (except once) can you anticipate for a moment what is going to happen. The chief adventure is abduction, the subject of it being _Mary Carstairs_, whose father was separated from her mother, and, being a lonely old man with a longing for a daughter's affection, took this melodramatic course to secure it. In furtherance of his end he secured the services of _Maginnis_, genial swashbuckler, and _Varney_, young, susceptible and heroic, and despatched them on his yacht to apprehend one whom they vaguely supposed to be "a little girl about twelve." This was the only time in which I scored over Mr. HARRISON. I was as certain, when I read thus far, that _Mary Carstairs_ was no child, but a grown-up beauty, as I am now that I know the facts. Everywhere else the author had me beat. His capacity for complications seems inexhaustible. I knew that _Varney_ was going to fall in love with _Mary_, but I did not know that he himself had a double who would cause endless and thrilling confusions; that _Maginnis_ would become involved in local politics to the extent of endangering his life; and that even old _Carstairs_, _Mary's_ father, would--but on second thoughts you had better share my unpreparedness about him. I should sum up the book as a tale with a "punch" in every chapter, some of them perhaps below the belt of probability, but all leaving one, as is the way with punches, breathlessly concerned.

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_Monsieur de Rochefort_ (HUTCHINSON) did not even take himself seriously; why then should I? To subject this airy romance, of Paris in 1770, to a minute criticism would be unnecessarily spoiling a good thing, and I shall not therefore ask myself whether prisons were so easily got out of or great statesmen so easily cajoled as Mr. H. DE VERE STACPOOLE for present purposes assumes. I shall not examine the historical accuracy of the portraits of the _Duc de Choiseul_ or of the _Comtesse Dubarry_, nor shall I question the human probability of villains so inept as _Camus_ or martinets so infallible and ruthless as _de Sartines_. The most exacting connoisseur of vintage ports will in his expansive moments admit the merits of a light wine from the wood, offered him as such in due season; even so the most fastidious novel-reader may in a holiday mood allow himself to be merely entertained and diverted by these lighthearted but breathless adventures in the Court of Louis XV. It is the greatest fun throughout; events are rapid and the dialogue is crisp; moreover there is from the beginning the comfortable certainty that, threaten what may, the unhappy end is impossible. If DE ROCHEFORT had failed to marry JAVOTTE, I think that Mr. DE VERE STACPOOLE would have incurred the unanimous displeasure of all his readers, including those who at any other time would have strongly protested against the marriage of so great a gentleman with so humble a lady's-maid in any circumstances, let alone upon so very brief an acquaintance.

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_Bridget Considine_ (BELL) is a pleasant story with something very agreeable in its quality, which however I find hard to define. Miss MARY CROSBIE has certainly a pretty gift for characterization, and this no doubt accounts for a good deal of the charm; the rest is largely a matter of atmosphere. The characters in the story whom you will most remember are _Bridget_ herself and her father. The last especially is a continuous joy--a man who in his journey through life had taken instinctively the manner and aspect of a class to which he did not belong; a decayed gentleman without ever having been gentle except in mind; a needy adventurer without the spirit for adventure. Dragged up at the slip-shod heels of such a parent, supporting herself with romantic dreams when other nourishment failed, _Bridget_ grew to young womanhood the very type, one would say, of the _Cinderella_ to be rescued from poverty by a suitable _Prince Charming_. Thus when a combination of accidents thrusts her, as secretary-companion, into the society of _Hugh Delmege_, a budding politician, you will perhaps excusably plume yourself upon seeing the rest of the tale beforehand. If so, you will, as a matter of fact, be entirely wrong. _Hugh_ and _Bridget_ become engaged, certainly, but----. There is much virtue in that "but," the virtue of an unusual and convincing end to a story that has many charms, not the least of them being its humour. Yes, I certainly liked _Bridget Considine_ well enough to wish for more from the same pen. Its motto, "Candidates for Humanity," is well chosen.

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When Mr. WILLIAM SATCHELL, in a preface to _The Greenstone Door_ (SIDGWICK AND JACKSON), remarks that some Maori words are used so frequently that he is "afraid the English reader will hardly be able to avoid acquiring a knowledge of their meaning," his alarm is quite unnecessary. Personally, at any rate, I am proud to know that _papa-tea_ means an untattooed person, and _waipiro_ an alcoholic beverage. But if Mr. SATCHELL had feared that the young man who tells the story might be found a little too self-complacent no protest would have been sounded by me. For _Cedric Tregarthen_, the grandson of an earl, and also "The Little Finger" of a Maori chief, was beyond my swallowing, though I endured him obstinately until he reported _verbatim_ the opinion of his beloved's governess. "'Good-bye, Mr. Tregarthen,' she responded. 'Or, if you will allow me to say, "Good-bye, Cedric," it will better express my feelings. I used to hate boys, my dear; but I shall love them all for the sake of your gentleness and kindness. I am sure you will grow into a very noble man.'" Now, I ask you, ought not dear _Cedric_ to have kept this to himself? Give me for choice the Maori boy, _Rangiora_, and the half-Maori girl, _Puhi-Huia_, humans fit to be loved and admired. The pity of it is immense, because Mr. SATCHELL has a knowledge of his subject that is beyond all praise, and the Maori part of his book is worth reading again and again. But the trouble remains that Cedric lived to tell the tale, while _Rangiora_ died and had to have his tale told for him.

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Illustration: _The Ancient Mariner._ "SEEN CHANGES? I SHOULD THINK I 'AVE, SIR. W'Y, WINKLETON USED TO BE THAT QUIET YOU COULD 'EAR A PIN DROP! BUT LOOK AT IT NOW. WHAT WITH THE PICTURE PALACE AND THE PIERROTS AND THEM SWING-BOATS AND THE PENNY BAZAAR, IT'S GOT TO BE A FAIR PANHARMONIUM!"

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How they view things in Oregon.

"SPORTS.

Murderer uses ax to wipe out family of four."

_The Morning Oregonian._

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