The times., 1898-04-17
Grant Aliens New Book.

The latest book by Grant Allen, ''The
Incidental Bishop" appears in cover of
crude green that sets ones nerves on
edge and prepares one for startling reve-
lations within. But the story is not as
verdant as its garb would indicate. 1t is
more like real, skillful, psychological
novel than most of Mr.. Aliens ven
lures in that line. 1t deals with a ques-
tion of conscience, but not such vio-
lent one as that experienced by THE Wo-
man Who Did, II is not only a moral
problem, but good story we'll told, and
that is saying much
The plot is a sort of House that Jack
Built of complications, intended to
prove to the thoughtful reader that the
way of the transgressor is hard. The he
70, Tom Pringle, is a Canadian youth,
common sailor with the education of a
gentleman son, and has been, without
his own knowledge, shippedso SLAYER.
in the days of the South Sea Island trade
to Queensland. Through various queer
circumstances he is almost forced to as
sumo the clothes and character of dead
missionary. and although it would have
been very easy for him to shake off this
character and get rid of the deception 1t
entails, at the very beginning of the book,
he does not do so, and is led from one
step to another until, by reason of his
real talent, common sense, gifts as a
leader of men and devotion to the cause
of the Kanaka slaves, whom he has seen
most cruelty treated, he is made bishop
in England and becomes a faithful ad-
herent of the Anglican church.
The working out of the young man
character as he continues his decep-
ton, first to save his own life, then to
win the girl who loves him and whom he
loves, then TO further the cause which
he has at heart-suppression of the slave
trade-his qualms of conscience at every
point, and his final tremendous strug-
gle with himself, as he comes to the con-
clusion that by his deception he has
jeopardized the safety of the Church of
England. is one of the most unique and
successful character studies ever made
by Mr.. Allen, or, for that matter, by
anybody else.
In the denouement the hero finds that
by frank avowal of the deception he
has practiced on the public by assuming
the character of a. clergyman when he is
not one he will not only lose his own
position and influence, but will ruin the
future of his only daughter and her be-
trothed, the faith reposed in him by his
wife, whom he adores, and the confidence
which large numbers of people have
learned to feel in him as ''the parson who
understood them Besides this he be-
comes convinced that he had by his
course invaldated in the sight of heaven
though not in a legal sense, all the GER
emonies performed by him in his charac-
ter of clergyman and of bishop, marriage
ceremonies and priestly ordinations in
Guided. He sees himself as the author
of incalculable mischief, a polluter of the
sacred stream of the church Although
his scruples may seem rather overdrawn
to readers on this side the Atlantic. es-
pecially to those outside the Episcopal
and Catholic churches, they are perfect
ly possible TO a man of earnest soul and
sensitive conscience. The psychological
interest OF the situation is an extremely
strong one.
AS TO the other characters. the most
carefully drawn as well as the most de-
ightful, is that of the daughter, Evelyn,
who is, as she terms It, not bishopy"
but is a truly modern maiden with plenty
of slang and fun in her, and rather more
than her share of independence; such a
person as, without careful handling. might
be unrefined and unpleasant in the ex-
treme. AS Mr.. Allen portrays her, how
ever, she is a very attractive little body,
and her quaint bits of slang and her unex-
pected speeches are full of a racy and
fascinating hGmor, while the scene in
which the troubled bishop confdes his Sc
cret to her and she, loyal and loving and
IiiO5 Us III ltI
own inimitable style, is one of the happi-
est things that Mr. Allen ever did, Eve
lyn is by no means the type of woman
who demands perfection in the man she
loves and is heartbroken if she discov-
ers something of the earth earthly in these
adored beings, and her declaration of
faith, made to her lover. is one of her
most characteristic speeches. She says:
''Faith in the men love, Alex? Yes, faith 10
the very end. Not faith that they'll never do
wrong; / don't care for that kind; but faith in
them still even if know they have done it.
told him just now. II doesn't matter TO me
whether it's true or not. 50 far as that goes.
He's still himself. And do you think that some
thing he once did before / born is going to
blot out the memory of all these years ! have
lived and known him-the memory of what he
is and always has been? ! should think of him
the same If you could prove to me this minute
that he committed murder in New South Wales
thirty years ago. ] should say, Poor dear, what
could have driven him TO do it? -
Nevertheless-and this is a delicious
touch of characteriZation-Ev refuses
to believe that what her father has told
her is really true, and comes to the nat
ural conclusion that his brain must have
been little affected by worry over a
peculiarly troublesome case in the dio-
cese; and, owing to the timely death OF
the bishop, she continues in this belief
The probabilities are, however. that be
ing the girl she was, she told the truth,
and that even had she been compelled to
accept proof of his lifelong deception.
she would have continued to love and
trust him with womanly loyalty.
There is another little declaration of
independence, which it is rather unfair
TO quote by itself, but which will be un-
derstood by people who have known and
liked the kind of girl that Evelyn is:
'Mums is more bishopy at heart than Daddy
and are And Daddy is only incidental
bishop. But she has more sense of the dignity
Of the episcopal position than we You see, she
was brought up in cergymans family while
was brought up in Daddy's, and he's no clergy
man don't think even Cambridge could
have made much out of me, 1t would have run
on me IKE water of a something -or-other's back
duck IS IT! Thank you. Resist the higher
education, and 1T will fee from you. When Daddy
hrst spoke TO me about going TO Cambridge
said, Get thee behind me, Girton' and il gat
thee behind me; at least, that was the last !
heard OF il"
Now, that will shock some people. and
so will Evelyn, but they are people who
ought not to read Grant Allen AS for
the other characters in the book, the
lover Alex, is a manly young fellow.
Olive the wife of the incidental bishop
and mother of Evelyn, is rather shadowy.
but agreeable, and the minor characters
are drawn with as much distinctness as
there is need, considering that they are
only minor characters People who liked
THE Woman Who Did" will like this
book, not because the two are alike but
because both are earnest endeayors TO
present a problem which is real to the
author Some people who did not like
the earlier work will also like this, and
there are some readers who will do well
to let both books alone, because they do
not understand extraordinary characters.
As for the solution of the problem, that,
like the conundrum of the Lady or the
Tiger. is a thing which each person must
settle for himself. A question which can
not be even stated inside of 800 pages of
skillfully-written fiction is altogether toe