The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-29 00:00:00

Shirley Brook's New Serial Story.

Sooner or Later. By Shirley Brooks. No. I.
Bradbury and Evans.
The sparkling novelist of " The Silver Cord"
and Aspen Court" here commences in dashing
style a new serial story under the antithetical title of
" Sooner or Later." Bat that George Du Maurier is
with his pencil almost as clever and humorous a con'
tributor to Punch as Shirley Brooks is with his pen
—that pen, by the way, which scratched off to the •
life those delightfully cantankerous Naggletons—we
should have been disposed to regret very much the
disappearance, as Mr. Brooks's illustrator, of John
Tenniel, the most gifted draughtsman, to Or
thinking, among all our comic illustrators. 01,,
peculiarity, however, about " Sooner or Later,
as a shilling monthly serial story, we cannot but
direct attention to at once, and that regretfully'
namely, the exceptional circumstance of its cow
taining only one embellishment. This one, holy;
ever, is clever enough, and not unworthy °I
Da Maurier—" Is it a Fatal Case?" being the title
of it. As yet it is impossible of course to conjec;
ture in any way what will be the probable drift 01
the story. Magdalen Conway, the heroine, tbougb
frequently mentioned already in the narrative, has 10
once yet made her appearance. The hero, her 11"
anted lover, Ernest Dormer, has appeared certainly'
but that is all—for, even now, though he has 3P-
peared, and has also spoken a little, we are never-
theless scarcely acquainted with him. It is in
vivacity of the give-and-take of the club-house tolL
at the dinner table of the Octagon, and afterwar'
in the smoking-room, that Shirley Brooks shines ill
this initial number of " Sooner or Later." lure,
for example, is a fragment of one of these same
club-house conversations :
"Going to ask us whether we are disengaged, as 9°ll
want to give us another dinner, Samuel ?" said
Wigram.
"Pas si bite," was the editor's gracious reply, as he fed
and lit a little meerschaum.
" What did you do with the Reverend Grafton ?"
"Mr. Grafton accompanied me to my apartments, tt",/'
cepted my humble hospitality for the eight, and depart°,
for his provincial residence on the following moraingt
replied Mr. Mangles, with affectation of a didactic manner'
a 1 should like to know what he said about the
remarked Launceston.
a He said it was very conveniently situated, and that the
architecture, though unpretending, was effective."
"Don't be a humbug—was he scared?" bat
"He did not say so. He may have been scandalised,
he did not say that either," replied Mr. Mangles.
reason may have been that he was indisposed to be er.":i
cal, at night, and that he went away before I was uP
the morning. Ring, Wigram. Some iced water, and t
last edition of The Sun," he added, to the waiter.
"There's no news," said Launceston. "I wish 4°
wouldn't bring the newspapers up here."
"My dear Charles," replied Mr. Mangles, quietlY, t
have the greatest regard for you as an institution, 1,:0
have no confidence in your ability to say whether thereig
or is not any news. You probably mean that there
tit,
no telegram stating whether Preposterous or HiPPO°
mus has won the Witlefs' Cup at Muckton. I ate it
interested in that national event. I want to see what th`3
have been doing in the house at the morning sitting." 0
"I wish the house was—well, I wish the house was
said Mr. Wigram.
Tirtifit ett
" Are you serious ?" said Mr. Mangles. " - dot
earth can the house be to you ? I hardly suppose' "
you knew of its existence. What do you think it is ? 'The
"It is keeping me from leaving England, that's all. otil
governor has some notion that he ought not to stir fist
the prorogation. You see," he added filially, " it is bisent
session, and he may be excused for thinking Parliarri
awfully important."
" And then these swells wonder that the inisge•-
rned
talk of a revolution," said the editor.
ft Will
"Swells yourself !" retorted Henry Wigram, L
rug.
rising from his chair, and becoming oratorical on thoios,
"I think that a revolution would be a very good
g'
lam not in the least afraid of one. I wish we had
strong Committee of Public Safety."
" °Malin() in shiny boots." 36013c°
"Very well, and he begs leave to abuse your you
for a minute. I tell you I should like to see it. 11,014
believe that a strong Government of practical nlen sthial‘
allow the present state of things to go on ? P 0 Yell•oteS
that I should have had to sit in a Hansom for 20 u° vans
in a block at Temple-bar this morning, with inonsLedrorieg
gathering thick and close around me, everybody hilt whoa
everybody else, and all the traffic brought to a b
minutes are made of gold ?" To WQrid
" Wigram in earnest 1" said Launceston. h
5
is at an end."Y°llo,
"Wigram is in earnest," continued that elegant IV)
gentleman, who had quite forgotten to be pensive: bad'
Hove that such a committee would take London
in finita
kick all the boards, and vestries, and beadles int°,.„., a 0'
space, and would do no end of good. I would get
volution myself, if I could." r table/
And so on. The conversation at the dimesof
sare
especially, is sparkling with wit, repartee, of sot
espieglerie, and all the cracker bon-bons of its
mated table-talk—but to afford any notion
excellence in these respects would require!vrae.,
Moment and in this place, what is unluckilY 1 r
doable, a rather lengthy quotation.