The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-15 00:00:00

'ARYL

LITERATURE.

The rastleford Case. By Frances Browne, author
of "My Shari of the World." Three vols.
Hurst and Bi•:ckctt.

This work is distinguished for particular ability,
and it is sure to attract conaiderablo attention from
the style in which it is written. The plot of the
story is a very original one, and if the circumstances
are painful yet the interest is kept up in so striking
a manner that the reader wishes n)thing altered in
the.tale. The characters of the numerous dranzatts
person are admirably portrayed. Herbert Leiton's
is a disposition very well described, and the weak-
ness which led him on to deceit and finally involved
him in serious complication, is most powerfully
shown, and offers a solemn warning to all who,
like him, are so reprehensibly irresolute. When
he married for money he should have had the de-
cency to comport himself properly towards one who
however unattrative she might be outwardly, or
disrgreeable in her ways, at least han been only too
favourably disposed in her conduct towards him.
Harriet was a violent temper, and very revengeful.
Her conduct at last was most sinful; but it was not
improbable, considering the case. The seorldary
characters are also very finished in their way,
which is not often the case where the chief ones
are of such importance,
and play so marked a role
as do Herbert and his hapless wives, on whom the
favours of fortune in the case of all three, only drew
down the sharpest stings of fate. The Frazer
family is a first-rate account of an old-world house-
hold—
" Remote from towns ho ran his goodly race,"

would have been an apt illustration for the
elder Frazer, for although at the time of his
introduction he was dwelling in the city, he lived a
most retired life, and his general habits
and manners were not at all in accordance
with the busy, bustling community among whom
he lived. The plots and counterplots that took
place been the Leslies and Frazers are graphically
described, and are by turns humourous and sorrow-
ful. At last the natures of all sides came out
strongly, revealing the craft and cunning of the
magnates in Piccadilly, and showing the truth and
honour of the denizens of London Wall. When
the old couple sat late at night communing over
events, Mrs. Frazer told him she had bid Simon
reject,thelbrilliant overtures, as he could not respect
the wealthy lady whose friends urged him to perse-
vere in seeking an alliance. For a moment the old
man, borne down by ceres, was disappointed, but soon
his better feelings gained the day and rejoiced over
the victory of self-respect and justice. " The spirit
which brought peasant men to fight at Bothwell-
bridge, and suffer in the Grass-market of Edinbui gh
for a principle which had been made clear to their
consciences, was in Ellen Frazer. She replied to
her husband's queries thus—' I bid our son never
to marry a woman who could act so wickedly, not if
she had the wealth of all England, and never to
marry the woman he couldn't love.' You said
right, Nelly—right, as I kent you would.' The
burden of kirk tronbles, of home poverty, and
whitening hair was cast off for a moment, so, per-
chance, were the stiff doctrines and the dry theo-
logy, and Cameron Frazer was a man once more
in the strength and fervour of his youth as he
clasped the faithful partner of five-and-twenty years
in his arms and returned to that rustic tongue in
which the strong heart of the North still utters its
best and warmest sentiments. In another minute
the minister had come back to the soberness and
gravity of his latter days. You were right,
Nelly. Let Simon remain free from the sin
of perjury and an evil connection, though
all his pilgrimage and ours should be
passed in poverty ; may be it will teach us to lay
up treasures where neither moth nor rust corrupts,
nor thieves break through and steal." Were
fashionable parents of modern date to try to emulate
these primitive folks, in this spirit of fairness, very
different would be the fate of their children. Miss
Leslie is a likeness of a girl of a coarse nature, not
properly guided, and of headstrong passions never
curbed. She was a disgrace to all who had to do
with her, and it was a relief to everyone when she
retired to a lower sphere, which better suited her
ways and style. Susan, the servant of the Hopes,
is quite a character in her way, her devotion and
decision were great, and she was of inestimable
advantage to the distressed family she served by her
faithfulness and zeal. Annie Hope gains greatly
on the attention by the cheerful courage with which
she endured overwhelming troubles, and the spirit
she showed in emergencies. It is, perhaps, a pity
to have made her family affairs so very complicated,
and certainly the tale contains sufficient intricacy
without her marvels of lost and found fathers and
uncles. However, it is ingeniously put, and Annie
is a true heroine, well formed for the troubles of
reality, not fashioned to play with the sorrows of
romance. Ever the same, when she had to go out
alone in the weary night to find the strange lawyer
to assist her father who was then ill and helpless ;
or when she stood at twilight on the lonely moor
and conversed with the strange figure, disguised
enough to frighten away any young girl's senses,
Annie had a hard task indeed when she was on a
visit to Castleford at the time of the dread dis•

coveries. She found the place miserable, and all
around her under a cloud of mystery, but at last
the solution came, one evening when she saw the
face of the first Mrs. Herbert looking in at her bed-
room door. Three years had passed since she had
been buried after her body was found in the river.
What to think ! she dared not analyse her lurking
dread of foul play. "That glimpse through the half
open door had explained Mr. Johnstone's allusions,
Leiton's dread of the long evenings and love of
visitors, the change of servants, Herbert Windham's
fits, Mrs. Leiton's accident in her own room, and
the confused talk thereon. The old-world stories,
concerning those who came from the grave, were
then true, for she had seen one of them, and seeing
is believing. The handsome pleasant country house
had a visitant from the vault under the old
church, a comer not to be shut out by bolt or bar."
No notice was taken openly of this mysterious
guest who like the skeleton at Egyptian festivals
flung a shade of gloom over every gaiety. At last
the season of rejoicing drew near, and it was re-
served for the eve of the Christian Festival to witness
as dark and tragic a scene as ever reminded the sons
of mortality how sad is the lot they inherit from
their first parents fall. " Blessings on the world's
old holidays, those white spots marked on the circle
of the year by the primeval myths, and descending
with them from race to race, and from creed to
creed, serving in successive systems and called by
the names of many gods. So Herbert Leiton being
a country squire, and having acquired a repute for
himself and his hall, which kept off the country
families, took mightily to the good old times and
their cnstoms, and Christmas was to be kept in
Castleford as it never had been in the memory of
the oldest inhabitant." On that fatal evening be-
fore Christmas all hands were busy cutting down
the holly, but Jessie the young second wife, who
with her child had gone to an old cupboard in a de-
serted passage to get out some quaint dresses for the
Mummers, who were to astonish the London guests
then expected. Here she met her doom. The
Ghost or Spirit that had lurked at noonday hidden
there, wandered at midnight, now met face to face
her prey, her successful rival, the beautiful young
girl whose face had eclipsed her sombre looks. She
sprung at her and the fearful struggle was too much
for Jessie. She rushed away to Annie who was
near and sunk at her feet. "At this moment the
procession
marched up the avenue, laden with ever-
greens, and led by Herbert with a great bracli of
holly, covered with bright red berries, in his hand.
Good luck to Castleford Hall, " Hore we come
with the Christmas holly." Jessie never recovered
her reason, from that fatal hour, and her doom was
a merciful one, for she could only have suffered
greatly had she been restored to her senses. Mean-
while other dangers loomed in the future of the
wretched Herbert. Hardly had he left his wife
partly calmed, and consulted with the doctor as to
her state when a new trial came. The messen-
gers of fate are seldom heard in their coming
—it is truly said—and so it chanced that in the
misty night no one noticed four policemen walking
up the avenue, the hall door was open, and they un-
perceived reached the object of their search, the
master of that proud domain ; also the accused mur-
derer of his first wife the man about to be
arraigned before his brother magistrates,
charged with the deadliest crime which A human
being can be guilty of. Herbert was spahred
a scene before his servants. The doctor who
'ha
known all before advised an instant departure, " So
without the knowledge of any but these three, out
; out of
of all his household, over the heaps of Christmas
holly which he had cut down in such
the hall door at which his London visitors were to
be received, and the long drilled mummers to make
their appearance ;
Herbert keiton was marched
that Christmas eve in the custody of four policemen
Park gate. It
the station-house in Colch t "
hard by his own
es er.
to a chaise waiting
conveyed him to
Few novels nowadays contuin more dramatic scenes
or excite more vivid interest than the first part of
the third volume of this work. The attention is
kept alive till the end, but it is in these chapters
which all things combine, the dexterity
by which all persons conspire to show Herbert
skillth at the most striking talent is exhibited. The
with
most masterly, and reveal the author's
guiltyabilit a
ability tore be considered far superior to the ordinary
romance writers of the day. The point of the story is,
that Herbert is innocent, he was weak and nervous,
knowing that circumstances were against him, from
the sudden disappearance of his wife, the body found
dressed in her clothes having the face disfigured
beyond recognition, his previous love-making with
Jessie during his wife's lifetime, her discovery of it,