The times., 1899-05-21

never been suffered to see genuine man. And
| now, here is one-or what ] think TO be one
| and I'm given to understand that he is pirate
and a murderer and an unspeakable rufian gen.
erally-but he takes my fancy, and he has beck
oned TO me to come to him, and so you Will
| kindly get my hat and jacket and gloves.
| Ihats what she would have said TO you, my
dear
And l." said Celia. rising after a moment s
pause and putting her hand upon Ediths arm.
| II would have answered: Dearest lady, in what
ever beialls, i pray YOU never to forget that
| am TO the end your fond and devoted and loyal
| servant"
1t will be seen that in his working out
of the character of Lady Cressage, Frede-
ric incidentally offered an explanation of
one Of the darkest enigmas of history
and it is not bad one by any means. In
fact the trouble with most of the explana-
tions of the character OF Marie Stuart has
been that they do not explain. This one
does.
/ There are many strong scenes in the
book, just as there are many themes, ma
Jor and minor, all OF which it is impossi-
BILE to analyze in any mere review. In
fact, TO consider this book in all its bear
| ings upon the life of the present and upon
hitherto unexplored regions of human nat
| ure might require two or three other vol
umes as large as itself. 1t is the sort of
book about which other books could be
! written. But the most striking chapter Of
all is that in which Thorpe awakens to the
| consciousness of his soul, though that is
! rather theological way to put it. This
chapter is so absolutely original, con-
ception so undreamed of by any other nov
elist since the world began, that it is the
| signet-ring of Frederics genius. Nobody
else could have written it.
The successful speculator has settled
/ down in his country house, with his beau
! tiful wife, to the enjoyment of his fortune.
| He finds, to his astonishment that the life
! does not please him. II is monotonous. He
| discovers, to his greater surprise. that it
does not please his wife. 1t lacks the ex-
citement, the new emotions the develop
ment, which she had dreamed that she
would experience with the buccaneer who
| came and carried her away from accus-
| toned scenes. Her lion has turned into
a peaceful grazing sheep; her gorilla has
/ put on evening clothes and become man;
and she is disappointed. She, as well as
himself, misses the JOY of struggle.
Illuminating on this discovery, he strolls
| through his greenhouse and comes Lpon
his head gardener, the man who possibly
| holds the secret of one of his less reputable
! transactions. More than once during bis
stormy career Thorpe has faced the posi-
| biiity of killing those who stood in his
way. That is the old pirate spirit. But
! the eXigencies of modern life have not re-
quired the death of his enemies, except in
one case, which came perlousiy near being
murder. That was the case of the brother
! in-law of this gardener Thorpe knows
that there is no real risk to himself from
this mans presence, but he is suddenly
| seized with the idea of killing him, put
| ting him out of the way as our grew
somely significant phrase has 1t. What
| stops him? Once he would have yielded
instantly to the impulse; for, as Celia says,
he is that sort of man.
The thing which holds him back is .he
thought of the effect upon his wife should
the dead body of the gardener be found in
her greenhouse,
With the thought of her comes the ef-
| facing consciousness of her preciousness
/ to him. The working out Of this notion is
almost fantastic in its subtlety, but true as
an algebraic equation. Thorpe enters the
greenhouse, has few minutes conversa-
tion with the gardener and comes out.
The mood which follows is thus described:
But a few minutes before he had been strug-
Cling helplessly in the coils oi evil night
mare. These terrUrs seemed infinitely behind him
now. He gave an Indifferent parting glance back
ward at them, as one might over his after
breakfast cigar at the confused alarms of early
awakening hours before. There was nothing
worth remembering-only the shapeless and fool
ish burden of n bad dream.
The assurance rose within him that he not
TO have any more such trouble With singular
cleaTness OF mental vision he perceived that the
part of him which brought bad dreams had been
sloughed of like serpents skin. There had been
two Thorpes, and one Of them-the Thorpe who
had always been willing 10 profit by knavery,
and at last, in splendid coup, a master
thief had stolen nearly million, and would
have shrunk not at all from adding murder to
the rest to protect that plundermthis vicious
Thorpe had gone away altogether. There no
longer place for him in life; he would never
be again by mortal eye. There remained
only the good Thorpe the pleasant, well-nten-
tione9 epuleHt gentleman; the excellent citizen;
the hs-4efcent master, TO whom even Gaherson,
like the others, touched a respectful forelock.
II passed in the process of his reverie
kind Of triumph Of virtue that the good Thorpe
retained the fortune which the bad Thorpe had
stolen. 1t was in all a fortunate fact, be-
cause il would be put TO worthy use. Con-
sidering that he had hut diuIy drifted about
heretofore the outskirts of the altruistic i'm
pulse, il was surprisingly plain to him now that
he intended TO be phiianthropst.
These aristocratic tuft-hunting phlanthropists
were the veriest buffers. They laid out millions
OF pounds in the vain attempt to secure what
might be had for mere thousands, il they went
sensibly TO work. What could not a man
OF real brain, of real breadth and energy and
force Of character do in London with two hun
dred thousand pounds? Why, he could make
himself master Of the town. lie could break into
fragments the political ascendancy Of the snob,
'semi-detached" villa classes, in behalf Of the
Parliamentary divisions they controlled. lie
could reverse the partisan complexion Of tine
metropolitan delegation, and lead 10 Wesimin-
ster party Of his own; a solid piialanx OF dis
cipiiGed men, standing for the implacable d.
mOciacy OF reawakened London. With such
backing he could coeTce ministries at WILL and
reniake the politics of England. The role Of
Great OLvo himself was not too hopeessy be
yond the scope OF such vision!
When he met his wife. after this dream,
she found in him a new man. This is
what she saw as he caught her in his arms,
and spoke to her incoherently of the plans
and purposes awakening in his brain:
She beheld in his face as she scrutinized it
a stormy glow Of the mans native, coarse inn
petuons virility, reasserting itself through the
mask Of torpor which this year had
perimposed. The large features were somehow
grown larger still; they dominated the counte-
nance as rough, bold headlands dominate shore.
II was the yisagc Of cUnqucror-oi a man gath
ering within himself, TO eXpcnd upon his fellows,
the appetites, energies, insensbiltcs, audacties,
of 4 beast of prey. Her glance futtered a little,
and almost quailed before the frank barbarism
OF power in the look he bent upon her. Then it
came to her that something more was TO be read
in this look; there in it a reservation of
magnanimity, of protection, Of entreating invita-
tion, for her special self He might tear down
with his claws and pull 10 pieces and deyour
others; but his mate he would shelter and de-
fend and love with all his strength An inyoi-
untaTy, trembling thrill through her-and
then She smiled up at him.
And here. after a supplementary chapter
or two, the book leaves him-determined
to stand London on its head" Whether
he did it or not, and what happened to him
in the doing, will never be known, unless
somebody else takes up the tale.
In some ways, this last book is the
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