New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-05-03
FICTION.
r., .NyreIs and Some SbCrt
Sketches.
Short

RIcHAhl, KosNY. By Maxwell Gray Emo. PIP
NJ, 81. D. Appleton a co.
TIE MYsTERY OF MCRRA ~ b RAyEHf69 5R ~
Robert Nelson Stephens Illustrated by p n. r,
edwards Emo, PIP, 81 Boston: L. - rage ~
DISCUSSES OF KEIDANsIY. BY Bernard G.
Richards Emo. PIP, Dds. Scott-Thaw COMPANY
FTlZARETIIs CHILDREN. Emo, p9. 36i John
Lane.
DARBY oGIIL AND THE GOOD PEOPLE Ey
Hrrminie Templeton. l2mo' PIP 81. Nc ufF'
Ever since Maxwell Gray published The
Silence Of Dean Maitland" her readers nave
turned tn each one of her new books as 1T has
APPEARED with curiosity and hope. The hst %
books which this author has put to her creol'
is now fairly long, but the moment IN "hich
revival of the cleverness shown in the mover just
n,.ptfoned could be recognized has somehow
failed to arise Richard Rosny,' for example
is 4 good story, but not quite so good as We
would like it to be. For one thing, 1t is too
long. being spun out with a great deal OF I'M
necessary detail Moreover not one OF the
characters is the sort of man or woman 10 just
ify such minute portraiture the author seems
to think worth while. The hero and ms mothei'
it is true are both Interesting types, but 10 De
kept in their company through more thah hNe
hundred 1ases is not on the whole, an IN
,,iooratine experience. Yet Richard Rosny' Is
worth reading The principal woman, Richard
mother is one of those loVabIe out lnteLselS
arotisticaI creatures who have grown IaillllI"i
enoIigh in recent fiction but whose TRAITS Ho'
o,,- novelist has the skill to delineate- Max
we'll GRAY is acute and vivid in her analysis u
rha character Of Mrs. Rosny, or, rather, OF Nrs'
ra1+,r as che becomes at the opening of the
etorz Richard is a child then and he resents
tho aYDearance of a stepfather upon the scene.
Resentment gives way to liking, after tlile'
bur as the years go on something Ike MAJ 90
enters into the young mans heart HIS Iiiotnei
second marriage has only involved her III Di''ei
mage and things go from bad TO worse, until our
hero is obliged to give up the career on "HiOH
he has been started in the navy TO DO what he
can for his family
In the treatment of his character the au'h'i
finds her account and though, in spite OF her
MANY pages, she fails to make RlcnaFd itosiS
as striking figure as he ought to be 10 deserve
such space she certainly makes a good deal OUT
of him There is a agc motive, which we heeu
mot reveal hut we may mention that 1t is closely
related to the development of the nero cha'40-
ter and career. There is much human h"'uie
:, thu hook It is for this reason that the
wearied reader perseveres to the ehd OLce
more as We reiinQuish this novel we sign loI
the really sincere friend who ought 10 De aI inc
. novelist, out IS ''IIloSI ilCNNi -
no found there Richard ROsny" might nave
haen made into a fit rate novel If II had peeh
ruthlessly pruned and rewritten, with all that
is good in if made more compact ana therefore
more effective.
."I,he Mystery of Murray Davenport opens III
= matter of fact way and so continues through
several CHAPTERS But presently, as the title or
one of the latter informs US, mystery begins
and thereafter mystery deepens- The scene is
/ laid in New-York The chief actors are two
voung men of literary and artistic interests.
The first of these men, whose name gives inc
hook part Of it's title, is pursued by III luck III
all The relations of life. Another man proHts
nv his ideas and wins the fortune that DaVen-
mort deserves The unhappy fellow Is unlucky
in love as in everything else, and as the mar
ratiye proceeds the likelihood of his improving
his circumstances seems to grow more and more
uncertain. How the tide is made to turn IL
Mr. Stephens's secret. and the reader IS in
geniously lured on in the hope Of discovering
lust what the secret may be. 1t is odd In the
extreme and indeed, somewhat taxes our ere
dulitv hut in a tale of this sort one must give
the author his head and be content TO be
amused.
The talk which fills the "Discourses Of Kei-
dansky' is offered that o. a supposiutlous