Chapter 4

The reappearance of _Dorothea_ as a volume in the new collected edition (CONSTABLE) of the works of Mr. MAARTEN MAARTENS has at this moment a strange aptness. For you may remember that _Dorothea_, herself of Dutch-English extraction, married into a Prussian family. Nay, more, into the family of a Prussian general. A very obvious interest attaches to the impression made by these people upon the mind of the author. Of the old General we find him writing that "his lofty soul had accepted the theory of the unity on earth of the good, the true and the beautiful." Who, I ask you, would have supposed it? But throughout the book these _Von Rodens_ stand as the perfect family, gently chivalrous, cultured and altogether charming. Then one remembers in explanation that _Dorothea_ was written some time ago, and that this was the old-fashioned _Kultur_. There you have the German tragedy in a nutshell. Of _Dorothea_ herself I will say little. Probably you already know her, and may agree with me in considering her an unattractive prig, whose place in the list of Mr. MAARTENS' heroines is decidedly at the wrong end. But those amazing pathetic Prussians! and the conflicting emotions they stir in your heart as you read!

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Illustration: _He._ "I'M JUST ABOUT FED-UP WITH ALL THIS TALK ABOUT RECRUITIN'. WHO'S GOIN' TO CARRY ON THE WORK OF THE COUNTRY IF ALL THE PEOPLE OF BRAINS GO TO THE FRONT?"

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