Chapter 4

I have before now met (in books) heroes who wore dungaree and had as setting an engineer-shop or a foundry, but never one who equalled _Jim Robinson_ (HUTCHINSON) in the strictness of his attention to business. _Jim_ is the managing director of _Cupreouscine, Limited_, a firm which deals in a wonderful copper alloy which he himself has invented, and the book tells the story of his long and losing fight against the other directors, who are all in favour of amalgamation with another and much larger concern. Sketched in so few words the book's subject sounds unattractive, but Miss UNA L. SILBERRAD has a genius for making "shop" as interesting in her novels as it usually is in real life, and _Jim's_ plans and enterprises and the circuitous ways of the other directors provide material for quite an exciting story. When I say "other directors," _Mary Gore_, representing a brother on the board of _Cupreouscine_ and backing _Jim_ through thick and thin to the limit of her powers, must be excepted. In spite of her gracious reserve and self-possession, it is plain that _Mary_ loves the busy managing director; but _Jim's_ feelings are more difficult to fathom. In fact he is so long in mentioning his passion that it is quite a relief when, on the last page but one, what publishers call the "love interest" suddenly strengthens and their engagement is announced, very suitably and to her entire satisfaction, to the charwoman at the foundry.

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_Open the Door_ won the two hundred and fifty pounds prize offered by Messrs. MELROSE, and without troubling to inquire into the merits of its rivals I wholeheartedly commend the award. For some curious reason its length (one hundred and eighty thousand words--no less) is insisted upon by the publishers, but as a matter of fact Miss CATHERINE CARSWELL'S novel would have been even more remarkable if it had been of a less generous bulk. Her style is beyond reproach and she has nothing whatever to learn in the mysteries of a woman's heart. The principal scenes are placed in Glasgow, and the _Bannermann_ family are laid stark before us. _Mrs. Bannermann_ was so intent on the next world that for all practical purposes she was useless in this. Having been left a widow with two sons and two daughters, she was incapable of managing the easiest of them, let alone such an emotional complexity as _Joanna_. It is upon _Joanna_ that Miss CARSWELL has concentrated her forces; but she is not less happy in her analysis of the many lovers who fell into the net of this seductive young woman. Indeed I have not for many a day read a novel of which the psychology seemed to me to be so thoroughly sound.

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I hope "Miss M.E. FRANCIS" will take it as a compliment when I say that _Beck of Beckford_ (ALLEN AND UNWIN) should form part of the holiday equipment of all of us whose brows are not too exalted to enjoy it. In her unostentatious way Miss FRANCIS knows how to provide ample entertainment, and she has nothing to learn in point of form. When we are introduced to the _Becks_ they are proud and poor, having impoverished themselves in the process of removing a blot from their escutcheon. _Sir John_ is a working farmer, and _Lady Beck_ does menial duties with an energy that most servants of to-day would not care to imitate. The apple of their old eyes is their grandson, _Roger_, and the story turns on his struggle between pride and love. No true Franciscan need be told that he comes through his struggle, with flying colours. So quietly and easily does the tale run that one is apt to overlook the art with which it is told. But the art is there all the time.

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"You can greet an acquaintance while you are cycling by smiling and nodding your head or by waving. Which you do depends on the depth of your acquaintanceship."--_Home Notes._

And not, as you might think, on your proficiency as a cyclist.