New-York tribune., 1902-10-12
FICTION.
A NOVEL AND SOME SHORT STORIES.

! b bbU6PL 1T. BY Gilbert Parker i2mo. Do \. s5I
! The reader of "Tba T,+r,.t 90 r,,,
.i-i9H' be excused if he wondered half way
'hIoush the book why it did not bear another
/ '''e' for long time We are asked to interest
ourselves almost exclusively in the personality
''u dHaIrs Of Mrs. Trix Trevella, a beautiful
| ou"9 WIDOW in whose nature conflicting quail
i'ieS are constantly at work She has suffered a
soou zeal by the time the story opens having
| fS'N through a not very cheerful girlhOod
! ioIl""ed by some bitter years with a husband
VINO was at his kindest only when he took him
sen OH to another world. There is much good
IN IriX but there is an unhoIy fondness in her
Tor The glitter of Fashionable life She seeks COM
pehsaton for her early woes in an existence alto
| se'her worldly Things go wrong She means
| - MAKE the world her football and, natural
~ discovers that this is not the safest anuse-
| -e"' III "hich one can ordinarily indulge Her
uluiiphs and her troubles interest us to sua h an
eA'eHt that We are ready to forgive Anthony
nope MS title, even while il puzzles US but pres
eh'H Peggy Iiyle appears in her true light as
the source of what is 10 be most charming
III 'he story and then not only understand
'he utle' but are most emphaticaIly with the
au'hor IN his choice of it, Peggy is adorable
one Is more than that. If she is fair to look
uPoh' she Is also good TO know as one character
III 'he DOCK after another finds out. A little
princess, presiding a small circle Bo-
he'iiidhS IN London, she diffuses joy with a nat
uralhess that keeps even her literary and ar
tstic chums from taking their own affectations
seriously; she leavens the lump, and for once
We make the acquaintance in a novel of Bo-
hemIdns who are not bOres. We must quote one
| OF the passages in which this amabIe young per
son is sketched
some men maintained that it was not the
4uahuty, nor the quality, nor the color of
i hsAI hat die fha
slhpy and solely the way il grew. Perhaps
| uor the opinion Of men i'm such matters is emf
hently and consciously falIible) it did not
sIoE mat way at all. but was arranged. The
/ result To the eye was the samoa peculiar har-
hlony between the waves of the hair the turn Of
| 'he neck and the set of the head. So notable
ana individual thing this agreement that
Arthur Kane and Miles Childwick, poet and
| critic. were substantially as one about it, Kane
| described it as the artistry of accident" Child
WICK auded its "meditated spontaneity.'
| Neither gentleman was in pleased with his
| phrase, and each professed a polite admiration
| OF the others effort-these civilites are neces-
| sary in literary circles. other young
/ painted or drew the hair ard the head and the
| i,'h lll fesEy complained that her other feat
urtS we're neglected most disdainfully. other
young men again, not endowed with the gift of
| tAPieSSl'h 10y tongue or by hand, contented
| themselves with swelling PeSgy's court She did
| not mind how much they sweled it. She had
| me Nrrsatlhty, ana could be hirted with In
| rhyme, in polished periods, in modern slang
/ or I'm the deaf and dumb alphabet; the heart is,
/ "f course, the thing in such a matter, various
/ forms of expression more than it's interpret
eTs. Meanwhile Peggy learned men and their
/ manners, caused good deal Of picturesque mis-
| cry published and unpublished immense
/ ly Increased the amenity of life wherever she
/ went. And she went every where, when she
/ could pay cab fare and COntTive fTOck,
4 h"rr'" one or both of these commodities Gel
{ frrdt Flood, for instance, often had a frOcki.
l she generally returned the cab fare, and you
/ could usually regain the frOck by personal eX-
. 'rtlurS. II WAS not considered the correct thing
/ 20 ASK her directly for either. She had an in
I come Of forty pounds a year, and prOfessed 20
b" about To learn 90 paint in real earnest. There
WAS also AN uncle i'm i;eTlin who sent checks at
/ rare and irregular intervals. When check
'aT". Peggy gave dinner party; when there
had been mo- check for a lunE while Peggy ac-
I 'ept,I Il dinner. That all the difference it
made. And anyhow there was always bread and
butter To- Ie had at Airey Newtons. Airey
. appeared not 10 dine. but there tea and
there Was bread and butteT-a thing worth
kuovIu- now and then 10 Peggy RyIe.
/ 90 is pleasant To- have Peggy described in
his way. and kept throughout the book in har-
uruy with the description, because il makes the
NOR, UiquIut the sweet and helpful things she
docs just what they are and just how she
d"'~ them the reader will wish TO discover for
hin SELF All need say is that her influence
appears iu most Of the developments of the
story, and always in way TO make them more
interesting. She and her companions con-
~tautly saying bright things When they
. silent Anthony Hope is saying them 10 is a
bright book i'm short. with undercurrent of e.
hr-uiIue seriousness But wish the author
had not an but given his Irresistible heroine the