The Portland daily press., 1900-10-18
CONCERNING BOOKS.

Among the many fresh publications Of
Messrs. Harper AMI Brothers, we have:
The Infdel, by Miss Braddon; Friends
In Exile, by Lloyd Bryce; St. Peter s
Umbrella, a novel by KaIman Mikszath;
Charming Renie, By ArabelIa Kinealy
and The Lost Continent, by CutenFe
Hyne.
So long ago that one hesitates to count
the years, our youthful pulses beat to
Lady Audley' S Secret, and today presto
appears Miss Braddon, as It were from
the depths Of the past, with an up to
date romance, which proves her quite
capable Of adapting herself to the literary
taste Of the present time,
The Infdel is a novel that win hold its
own in the ranks Of modern fiction.
Bright clever, and a good bit Of art. it
is also clean and pure, which cannot be
said Of much Of the prevailing fiction.
A young girl, brought up among books
ana more especially upon the classics,
with no knowledge OF society in general,
and who with VoItaire and Richardson
for mental pabulum is fresh and sweet
as a rose, marries upon his death bed a
man to whom she has become strongly
attached, but who is much older than
she and far above her in station. He
bequeaths to her title and a fortune,
but binds her By q solemn VOW, not to
marry again. The promise she keeps. in
spite OF her love in later years for another
man. This is the slight plot Of the tale,
which Is worked out in an interesting
manner.
John Wesley Whitefeld. D'Alembert
Diderot, Horace Walpole and Montesqieu
appear in the ory, but only suggestive
ly, except the former who figures with
some prominence. The heroine is the
lnfdel Of the story. She Is a most in
teresting and striking person, and makes
strong impression upon the reader.
! portland; Loring, Short & HARMONY
Mr.. Lloyd Bryce was SO very entertain
ing in Lady Blanche's Salon, that one
takes up his latest work quite sure of
an agreeable hour or two in company
with his Friends In Exile. The story is
a clever skit enough, and capitally
drawn are the characters of MIR. jackson,
American minister to France, and his
wife Martha, There is also Mrs. Asher,
an American Becky Sharpe, and no
where does this sort of woman flourish
more luxuriantly than on American soil,
which raises everything and in all Varie-
ties, from the biggest beets in the world,
to writer's like Mrs. Gertrude Atherton,
novelist, and the charming American
women who have taken Paris and the
hearts of its people by storm.
Mr.. Brycss book is very sprightIy,
amusing, extremely well done, and a gay
nd piquant picture of the slightly de-
moralizing atmosphere of smart society
in the capital Of France. 1t also shows
that the best of men are sometimes for
the moment captivatsd by the wiles of
pretty women, and that the good wife
Martha was wise in preferring for herself
and Mr.. jackson a domestic life in (In)
Dianapolis, . U. S. A, to the dipIo-
macy and intrigue Of foreign courts.
A very good story ID told anent one OF
our new American ministers to Italy
He conviyed somewhat too freely, 1t ap-
pears, at a Fourth of July banquet. The
next morning the special correspondent
of home paper called and repeated his
stenographic notes Of our diplomat S
speech. The latter looked pained.
''That wasn't what 1 said," he OBJ
served, "it was this" After it was all
taken down afresh he detained the corre-
spondent sJmpathetically by the hand
'And now, young man, - he said, "let
me give you In parting, one piece Of ad-
vice. Never again report an American
Minister when you are drunk" port
land: Loring, Short & Harmony
St. Peters Umbrella is unique story
translated from the Hungarian by B. W.
Worswiok, with introduction by r. Mis-
bet Balm. Mikszath is said to be, Ger
tainly after Jokai, the most popular Of all
the Magyar n0veIists. He is a lawyer by
profession, but shrswd observer, with
a satirical bent and an ardent love Of let
ters. Thus he published volume OF
short stories at the age of twenty-five.
He has drawn vivid pictures of Hungar-
ian home-life, of folklore, in a series of
dramas and idyls Of much grace, deIica-
cy and humor, ana one is glad to be in
trOduced to so brilliant writer in the
present volume, which is well and skill
fully Englished.
The scene of the story is a romantic en-
vironment of remote Slovak villages,
with a ragged Umbrella and brand new
brass Caldron as the good and evil geni-
uses Of the piece. (Por5land: Loring,
Shot & HARMONY
Charming Renee, Miss Kinsaly's novel,
is a sort Of mixture, as to style, of The
Tenant Of Wildfell Hall and Jane Eyre,
the influence Of the Bronte sisters upon
the author being quite perceptible. How
ever, she might have had worse models,