The times., 1899-05-21

! LonuOn ne mas 1dllen IN with some snreWu
| spectators, who have swindled him. and
his one idea, as he makes his last desperate
! throw in the market, is to revenge himself
| on these men, who are all Jews. Luck
| turns his way, and he becomes the pos
SCISSOR of half a million pounds and the
| ability to bleed his enemies as they have
bled him. The opening chapter finds him
still dreaming over his triumph, as bucea-
neer might sit gloating in the cabin of his
ship after a desperate fight. Thorpe is q
business pirate.
Tine impulse OF the successful man OF
| business who is not a society man is TO
try his power on that world which has
never been open to him. 1t is only lately
that this matter has been treated from the
| aggressor's point OF view. The point of
view of the old-fsshioned novelist was the
inside OF the citadel-society-look down
on the assailant--the cad Now the feelings
| of the latter are receiving attention from
the psychologist. Crudely this idea work
ed in the brain of Silas Lapham; but he
was not essentially a conqueror except in
the yaguest way. Thorpe is a different sort
of man. Coming to his power fifteen or
| twenty years younger than Lapham came
to his, he can still appreciate keenly and
feel with exhilaration the fight which is
coming. He means TO be an English coun-
| try gentleman.
The first step in this is his acquaintance
with Plowden, who is the son OF a general
and the grandson of Lord Chancellor,
and who is living on an estate which be-
longs to his mother, without much on
which to keep 1t up except his name Ac-
| cordiDgly, he becomes a director of
Thorpe's company. Thorpe promises him
the chance of adding enormously to his
slender fortune, asking in return merely
his acquaintance and assistance socially.
| Plowden agrees. Later in the book the
peer even goes to the length of practically
offering Thorpe his sisters hand. That is
the sort Of thing which. in this country
would scarcely be considered the act OF a
| gentleman. That is where the cad uncon-
sciously crops out in Plowden. But the
Hon. Winifred Plowden, though she is a
nice little girl, is not in Thorpe's book
Lady Cressage is his objective point, and
her father. General Kervick, is on the
board of directors. He is the second aris-
| tocratic cad in the book.
Another element which impresses the
reader in course of time is that the tale is
full of surprises. This is usually the case
with the work of this author. but ''The
Market Place is the climax of collections
! of the unexpected. One looks for the col
| lapse OF Thorpe's card-house about his
ears at half dozen different points in the
p!ot-but it rears its airy heights with the
solidity of stone. One is convinced that
before the end of the book Thorpe will be
forced into some overt act of crime-but
ne is not One expects that he will be
! caught in the shady transactions which he
does conduct-but nobody catches him
Nothing Is clearer than that Lady Cres-
sage will snub him. and finally knock all
his fne schemes into splinters by refusing
him-but she does nothing of the kind.
Anc, finally. Thorpe has chance of dis
covering the emptiness of the life which he
has made his goal, and his restless energy
seeks way out of it, not by the road of
more doubtful transactions, but by that of
philanthropy. He contemplates doing in
London what Cecil Rhodes is doing in AZ
rica-adding to the strength of the en-
pire while apparently seeking his own
interest. Nobody but Frederic could have
created such a man. The complexities of
good and bad. of unscrupulousness and ten
derness, of pettiness and greatness in his
character would have been too much for
any bcokman not thoroughly in touch With
the life of today. Thorpe belongs to this
generation, and even more to the next.
He is not a good man, nor a bad man: he
is force, and neither impersoDal nor in
definite. He is to the abstraction which
we call force as an electric battery is
TO lightning loose in the air. He con-
denses and applies strength.
The third strong point in this book is
common to the other two of the authors
three great novels. 1t is that his people
are broadly human. Some novelists draw
types, and some draw individuals; it is
Frederic's trick-a magicians device-to
combine the two. There is not man who
cannot find something OF his own character
in Thorpe. just as he can in Theron Ware,
and yet there never were two types of men
more utterly unlike than the dreamy, i'm
pulsive, egotistical, verdant country min
lister and the wideawake. pushing, un-
scrupulous determined adventurer
As for the women in this novel, there IS
not so much to be said about them. This
is mans story. There were three wo-
men in the first book OF the trilogy who
were alive-Sister Soulsby, Celia Madden,
and Alice Ware. In the SECOND. the two
or three minor women characters were
well drawn, and the heroine was OF an
absolutely new type in fiction. In this
book the only important woman character
is Edith Cressage. and in her we have a
problem which only very ignorant or
very daring novelist would try TO solve
the development of the character of deli
cate. sensitive, and highly cultivated wo-
man, under the influence of strong, self
assertiye, dominant. and rough masculine
nature. The key to his influence over her
Celia sums up Stormont Thorpe; and the
juxtaposition of these two paragraphs is
in itself an artistic touch The explana-
tion of Edith's relations to Thorpe is con-
tained in conversation which she holds
with Celia, after their guest has gone. Ii
may be worth reproducing entire:
Edith Cressage rose at last, and took a few
aimless steps. with her hands at her hair well
Pm embarked fairly under way!' she said, in
elear-cut, almost provocative tones
II don't al all know what TO say" her com
panion replied, slowly; Il fancy that YOU cxag-
gerate my disapproyal. Perhaps il ought not TO he
called disapproval at all. il is only that l am
puzzled-and little frightened"
oh, ] am frightened too" said the other
but with eagcrness rather than trepidation in her
tone. Thai is why did not give you the sig
nal TO leave US alone. / couldn't quite get up
the nerve for it. But, would you believe il?
That is one Of the charms of the thing There
is an excitement about it that exhilarates me
To get happiness through terror-you can't un.
cersIand that, can your
TIN trying; | think I'm beginning to under
stand. said Miss Madden. vaguely.
Did you ever set yourself TO eomprehcndiny
Why Marie Stuart married Bothwcll? asked
Edith, looking down upon the other with illu
minating h1ity. ''You have it all-aIl there
Marie got tired Of the smooth people the usual
people. There was the promise Of adventure and
risk and peril and the grand emotions with the
big, dark brute
1T isn't a iappy story-this parallel tina. You
pick out" commented Celia, absently
Happy! Pahl" retortcd Edith, with spirit.
Who knows il it wasn't the only really happy
thing in her lifeg The snobs and prigs all scold
her and preach sermons at her-they did il in
her lifetime; they do it now
''oh, come; Pm neither 4 snob nor a prig. ="
put in Celia, looking up in her turn and TEN
pering with . smile the energy of her tone. 81
don't blame her for her Boutwell,; don't criti-
cisc her. never was even able TO mind about
4 H. IL INaHrH