New-York tribune., 1900-01-07

From the bust by Nollekens)
author sets forth his views the general sub
.aat Of fiction and tells why he attaches pecul-
tar significance 70 THE Light of Scarthey
Among an authors literary family he writes,
-is there not one nearer his heart than all the
,es1-his dreanl-child? 1t may be the stoutest
of The breed OF il may be the weakling; it may
ba the first born it often is the Benjamin.
rs,l,ars in the flesh lzuow this secret tenderness.
49, O child and many a book is brooded over
-, ID, -,,e4ial loye even before its birth. Loved
Sims for no grace or merit of its own, this
,oak js my dream-chid." For that reason, if
Gar NO other The Light of Scarthey" might
ofrain hearing, and besides, as we have sug-
eested readers Of Young April" and of its
immediate predecessor are bound to turn with
eager interest TO anything unfamiliar from Mr..
Castles hand But the book needs no adven-
,itious aids toward success. 1t is worth reading
because il Is a good story well told
Some things in IL We admit could have been
changed with advantage. The villain of the
book is one Of those crafty gentlemen whose
efforts 10 supplant their brothers have long
been among The most conventional elements in
fiction ana Mr.. Castle has made him the more
artificial by giving him all the stereotyped traits
Of melodrama- Rupert Landale wears hand
all the wiles of the hypocrite. He is of the
stage STACEY. The letter 10 that gentleman
from Miss O'Donoghue for all that it has a
bearing upon the plot and is no doubt in keep
ing with the lady's character is altogether too
long The book as a whole might have been
proftably shortened. But with these objections
made there remains nothing but pleasure within
The covers Of The Light Of Scarthey"
Incident comes easily from Mr.. Castles pen
There is plenty of it IN this book. But it is
always incident il is never the essential and
controlling thing. That, in The Light Of Scar
they as in the other novels of this interesting
writer is fresh and romantic motive which
Is neither purely dramatic nor purely analytic,
but shares in both qualities and is, in the last
resort. wholly human. Sir Adrian Landale, the
hero of this tale, is shown first in the heyday
Of youth, defeating himself with chivaIrous and
spiritual enthusiasm to the service Of a bewitch-
ing woman VINO leads him into the thick of
martial conflict and dies at the very moment
when neT heart swells with desire To recon-
pense with love the devotion he has so gen
erously laid h=r feet Landale is condemned
with her by one of the ferocious French revo-
utonists against whom they have been fight
ing, but he is rescued by d miracle and, after
sore privauons and humiliations, returns to lead
by Gnly few hundred yards from his ancestral
acres With the latter he has little TO do until
the daughter Of his dead love appears upon the
scene and his is torn from its placid
mOoTings to be tossed through channels as tenn
pestuous as they are unexpected. In the end,
Of course, the old haven once more shelters the
bToOding lover, under what circumstances we
leave the reader to find out for himself What
we are concerned to point out is the romantic
beauty Of the experience which Mr. Castle at
tributes to his Sir Adrian Landae. 1t is touched
with the fantastic glamour of the improb-
able, but it is in mis- treatment of such matters
that the author shows how much there is of the
poet in him. Probing the human heart and
bringing to the surface things to which for a
We hesitate 10 give credence he ex-
ploits them with art so sympathetic so delicate
and 50 authoritative that they soon strike us
as indubtably real.
The Light Of Scarthey' has the charm of a
daringly imaginative conception; the poetry and
dream Of passion are in it: the sunshine of
the magic of q strange and pictur-