New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-10-14

Story of an Ider, and of His Work, and %
What He Did in Moscow in the House of Exile
BY Max Pemberton. Illustrated. 12mo. pp. 500
d. Appleton * Co.
MEN 1S OF MARaI-o7WE.s. BY. Mrs Henry Dudeney
Emo PIP. 2SS. Henry Holt q Co.
! STORIES OF THE RAILROAD. BY John a; H5L
! Illustrated 12mo PIP. 297. Doubleday Nc
Clure Company.
| The success won by Mr. H G. Wells has been
due altogether to his gift for weaving plausible
stories out of daring forecasts of future civiliza
! ton. When the Sleeper Wakes" Thirty
Strange Stories" The War of the Worlds" and
The Invisible Man all based on fantastIcaI
imaginings; they ought TO be incredible, but they
are somehow persuasive and delightful. In
Love and Mr.. Lewisham" the novelist aban-
dons dreams OF the future and devotes himself
/ to the present. One expects him to bunder, to
| lose his best qualities, to meet the fate of the
writer moving helplessly on unfamiliar ground
But Mr. Wells pleasantly disappoints US. The
! book wants the originality of his other prOduc-
tions; it has nothing like their fresh, strange
and even powerful imaginative quality; but, on
the other hand, it is true to human nature and
paints commonplace types in sordid conditions
with the touch that lifts such motives above
| their dull plane, making them Of serious account
! to the reader. Humor. which has hitherto
seemed outside the authors scope, is present in
these pages; it plays a fitftl part to be sure,
but it leaves its mark nevertheless The young
|
! dreams of fame and ends in the grayest Of en-
vironments with the goddess shut permanently
out Of his life, is pathetic by virtue Of his for
Iorn declension; but Mr.. Wells sees beyond the
obviously grievoUs side of his heros humilia-
! ton. With true insight he exposes the nobier
| elements in the situation which make for the
honor of poor human nature, it's hard won recti-
tude, its steadfastness to the best ideals in the
dreariest hours. The tenderness which he
misses when he is devising odd tales of the
years to come gets into his work when he Is
dealing with men and women he can observe in
London and while prefer him in his inventive
mood we could not regret an occasional lapse
into the commonplace such as we have in Love
| and Mr. Lewisham."
"Chloris of the Island is filed with a kind
of depressed excitement Starting with the alb
duction of a ward in chancery in the England Of
the last century, when such escapades involved
the rattle of flying coaches, the shooting OF
pistols and the midnight invasion OF lone coun-
| try inns it proceeds with duel that is really
an affair of assassination, carries the reader into
| a cave of smugglers, hurries him into the secret
intrigues of patriots" favoring Napoleon's fond
scheme for descent upon the English coast
and mixes him up generally. in rather breath
less state, with adventurous gentlemen, implaca-
bic murderers, bland magistrates and lOvelorn
damses. A perfect riot of romance is ''ChlOris
! of the Island" But the riot is seemly. almost
quiet MI Roger Warburton, the young hero
of few words, but doughty deeds. whose thirst
for vengeance sets rascaly family by the ears
bringing discontinue to his enemies and secur-
ing him bride from their very stronghold, sets
the pace for everyone concerned, including the
author. His calm presence is felt all through
| the book. Showing the restraint that
characterizes his principal parsonage, Mr.. Wat
son gives his book thereby atmosphere well
calculated TO keep the wild occurrences of the
narrative from seeming too much like those OF
a shilling shOcker.' He likes to be sensational
but is clever enough avoid crudty and make
a wholesome engaging romance out of amazing
material
Mr.. Pemberton also deals in startling episodes.
The heroine of The Footsteps of a Throne is
! a beautiful Russian who has gambled away her
fortune and has thereupOn been exiled from the
pleasures Of St Petersburg to the far less dis
tinguished circles of Moscow. Practically pris-
! oner in her own house she eats her heart out
with anger and ennui until handsome English
man whom she has met before re-enters and
takes her troubles upon his broad shoulders
The death from heart disease of a spy within
her gates is seized as pretext by the police for
further interference with her liberty and then
the "idler" of Mr.. Pembertons subtitle really
sets TO work. There frantic jOurneyings,
there is ar interview with no less person than
eff here * n unSCrupulOUS Russian