The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-16
und,sae by Ems Double. or by Himself,

Undsne by Hh Double. or by Himself:
There Is merit Of Some sort in spite Of
countless defects in The Masquer&br.
the first place the story is told with direceAss
and holds the attention to the end, which
Is perhaps all that the average novel reader
cares for; snd In the second place, the
author having laid down certain premises
srgues from them logically enough, 80 that
the reason Is fairly satisfied. It would be
easy to pick flaws in the execution and to
show the improbebility Of matters turning
out az they do In dozens Of places, but
if the reader will swallow the authors
main idea he will not strain at the incidental
consequences.
The problem set forth has two sides
the material difficulties exposed In the story
and, we infer. an allegory. The characters
are drawn with very rough lines and seem
to be OF less consequence than the ethical
questions that arise. A man OF position,
who feels that he Is losing his hold on HIM
self on account OF the abuse Of morphine,
meets q stranger, q strenuous creature,
whose ambitions have been disappointed
and who ia in appearance his exact counter
part in every respect. We may call the
former and the latter B. 1t occurs to
to hire B to take his place whenever his
morphine Ats come upon him, and agrees.
The truest bit Of psychology in the book,
rough though it Is, is BIS yielding to the
temptation in the hope OF putting into
effect, even though It be for a short time,
his ambitious dreams.
A complication that gives rise to another
problem is that A has a wife from W HON
he is practically separated, though living
under the same roof. She Is one Of those
curious, sexless, political women that we
find in British fiction, whose affections are
guided by the political success or failure
Of their object, Finding that B, whom
she takes to be her husband, is living up
to her political ideals, she draws closer to
him and In the long run falls in love with
him.
The morphine spells Of A increase in
frequency, and be finally dies OF an over
dose. IT Ia an artistic mistake to have that
dose administered by B at AS request.
Then we have the struggle Of conscience
on BIS part about taking bis doubles place
in life for good, which is intensified by his
having fallen in love with AS wife mean
while. He yields to the woman's pleading
that the good which he alone can do If he
keeps up the deception, is entirely out Of
proportion to any personal qualms OF con-
science. She has found out the substitu-
ton and loves him for his own self.
It is interesting to watch the woman's
development. She has married her hue-
band apparently ont Of political ambition.
As he drops away and falls she comes to
loathe him. but when his substitute appears
and acts with decision, her affection is
reused again, AS he progresses In vigor-
Gus ection-the action here is political
she gradually falls In love with him, or
rather with what he is capable Of doing, 30
that when the revelation Of the substitution
comes it does not affect her, for 1t is the
man Of action that she loves. 1t is cl'
enough that the second man 10 notfug
but the first as he would have been If be
had followed his earlier ideals and had not
given way to sef-indulgence.
The author manages to clothe some OF
these abstra ctions with flesh. The wife and
the second man are made fairly human;
the other charact ers are mere puppets
used for stage effect. She lie 20 ruch In
earnest that she takes away all hint of
suggestiveness from scenes between the
wife and TIE supposed husband that might
otherwise seem ticklish.
No doubt the book ard the problems II
suggests will be discussed vigorously In