Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1873-06-28
ENGLISH FAST" NOVELS
A Brief Summary Of One OF the Most
POPULAR Of Them.


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Significant of the perilous stuff constl-
tuting a class of novels now pouring
forth In Englanf, fr0m the pens of
women chiefly, is the appended summary
of an affair called "Wild Geoigie," ex-
cerpted from a review Of that typical
feminine production In the MorRing Post:
Geofgie 10 the only daughter OF Lady
Ida Trant, widow moving In good So
cletY, but an irrepressiblo dabbler In
science and all that; and, to a certain
extent, not 70 careful a mother of George
nA might have been wished. II Is not
possible, for us, at least, to give In
brief sketch of this book any adequate
idea Of Georgie's fastness." To the
pages of the book itself, readers must be
referred for any realization of IL. As has
been already Indicated, 1t is absolutely
so mOnstrous as to be Incredible, even In
a predeterminate satire but, for all that,
there Is so much ego" Ito use coarse,
but expressive phmse) In the young
lady, she Is so beautiful and wilfully
charming, that you are at times half In
cllned to forgive her all the errors which
fall to her share. She is wooed by
sober, sensible, but rather dull barOnet,
ancient lineage and large estate, but she
will have none of him, having thrown
herself headlong into passion for about
as worthless, and, as he is dellneated, as
upattractlve seoundrel as could be con-
ceived.
Never heless this person creates grdndsS
passions not only In Wild George, but In
tho practised, clever, scheming, selfish
woman of the world-the French adven-
turess of whom mention has been made
above. These two have been partners,
in more senses than one, In gambling
all over the Continent. They have been
the cause Of the suicide OF one man, and
are believed to have either abducted or
murdered another-a young American,
who, however, is In the event discovered
living pastoral life as the husband OF
pretty peasant in some happy valley In
the French province of BeTrl. Well, a
time comes when George, her fastnesi
eliminating, elopes with this Oswald
Give, ruined gambler. By the inter
cession and assistance OF an unselfsl
lover Sir Henry Wllbraham-she aut
her husband are received into her moth
er's house, and the lady soon finds tha-
she had caught a Tartar In her brute of
a husband, for no other epithet is appll-
cable to him. Differences, dissensions,
quarrels arise, and not the less because
of the husband renewing the associations
with the French adventures. But II is
long ere George is disenchanted. When,
however, the time comes when her hus
band is cast down from his place as an
idol (morally more hideous than was
ever conceived by any sculptor of Indian
or African traveslles of gods), the first
idea which occurs TO her Is to throw her
self on the protection Of Sir Henry Will
braham and she actually goes to his
house and quietly tells him that she has
come to live with him. The force Of
" fastnees" could no further go than
this, and the satire rises TO an extraordl-
nary height. Sir Henry Is eninently
respectable and moral he has mother
and sister, as much models In their way
as he Is, TO whom he is tenderly attached,
and whose feelings he does not feel in
clined to shock by such lidison as that
proposed to him.
Alter n severe struggle, with much tact
he manages to get out Of the ditdculty,
making arrangements by which Georgie's
reputation is preserved, and she is placed
in no less an asylum than Lady Wilbu
hams house, her son carefully abstiinin
from visiting there. All this time goo,
deal Of the narrative is devoted TO the
sayings aud doings of Madame D'Au
bigne, the French adventures, and very
amusing part Of the story il Is. Their
comes upon the scene a certain Captain
Earieiort, friend of Sir Henry Wilbraham,
a man of the world, and, what is more, a
man about town, as regards both London
ard Paris. ln moment he and Madame
D'Aubigne, as by Instinct, become foes.
Their meeting, by the way, is brought
uh lsrt hs. afr 10, fltaf fha ufutd
baronel, despite his love for Georgie, il
rather fascinated by the French woman,
and TO an extent affects her society. In
the first move Madame D'Aublgne is the
winner, but afterwards EarlsiOrt has the
game IN hls own hand, and with infinite
SKIN ard perseverance he succeeds IN rid
ding London of the dangerous presence
OF the lady. The stu ,tion as regards
George has become rather complicated
she is Ia a manner a widow bewitched,
and, though she returns TO her mothers
: house, her position Is somewhat, II not
altogether, unsalisfact In this com.
plicauon The author has recourse to tht
usual novelislic expedient, that ia, she
calls in 'the fell Sergeant DEATH" and
Oswald Give is made to die miserably
After q decent Interval we find George
the wife of Sir Henry apparently tanned
down TO his standard OF what women
ought to be, retaining, however, tha
vivsciiy which, even to her grave hus
: band, has ever been so fascinating. Tha
she does not relapse into "fastuess," o
. which at times there Is some fear, i,
owing to the tact and judgment Of he
/ husband, who, understanding her well
; always seems TO know by instinct whel
she is likely to get bored, and has some
thing 10 suggest by way of depression
from the humdrum mOnotony of every
9 day life, so that she is never worried int
= a state Of restlessness or fretfulness. II
according TO the cAnons of pOetical Jus
Il nee, Wild qeoiGie's fate in life Is yer
, mueh better than she deserved, she ha
a created so much interest and even amuse
u ment in the course Of her career tha
( probably most readers will not grudg
= her the happiness to which she ultimatel
!, attains.