New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-27

299. Houghton, Miffiin x Go.
KATE OF KATE HALL BY Ellen Th9rneycToIt
Fowler and A. l. Felldn- Emo PP 20 ~ Ap
pleton q Co.
THE HOUSE OF FULFIIMENT. BY George Mad
den Martin. Emo, PIP S7s Mcclure Philips q
The hero of Mr.. Weyman's new romance is one
of those characters for whom he has shown
decided prediction. Frenchman of the old
adventurous days who is brave, resourceful'
naughty and short of speech. Monsieur des
Ageaux, Governor of PerigOrd in the time OF
Henri Quatre, is frowned upon by his master at
the moment of the opening of the story More
than one part of the kingdom is in disorder, ana
some peasants of the Limousin, are making
themselves particularly obnoxious. The Captain
of Vlaye. intriguing rascal on the spot is
using the revolt for his own purposes. but ne Is
doing this in a discreet manner and the pacifi-
cation of the district presents a problem appar-
emily insoluble. The king, furious at the sltua-
ton and at the Indifference of his great MOBILES
to the welfare of the CROWN turns in a rage to
Monsieur des Ageaux and tells him to see what
he can do to set things straight. 1t is made
plain to the unlucky governor that II ne 1allS In
this special mission he WI fall into complete
disgrace 1t is of his experience in the Limou-
sin full of peril and drama that Mr.. Weyman
tells us in most of his pages. The interest of
the book however lies chiefly in the contribu-
tons made to that experience by the Abbess.
who is in love with the Captain of Fiaye. Her
kinsfok are admirably drawn, the captain him
self is not by any means a negligible parsonage,
yet it is the Abbess whose personality dominates.
She is the ambitious woman of an earlier epoch
who when in love, would stop at nothing not
even murder. The tale is positively thrilling in
some of the passages which relate to her and 1t
is in the greatest crisis of her life that Mr..
Weyman finds his best opportunity. The scene
in the next to the last chapter, in which the
Abbess and her captain sit at table together,
considering their plans, is developed by the
author with all his art, and count it among
his most brilliant achievements. THE Abbess of
Nlaye' is first rate piece of romantic narra-
tive. Its heroine is type true to history, true
to human nature, and, in a sinister way, alto
gether fascinating.
passionate sympathy, burning Indignation
at cruelty speaks in Mrs. Phelps Wards new
story. 1t is in truth tract the subject of
vysecton. and she spends all her eloquence. all
her undoubted power OF pathos upon a situation
which. as she presents it, is repulsive enough
She makes her medical executioners guilty not
only of extreme brutality. but of knavery, using
for their purposes delicately bred pet animals
which they know have been stolen. One of
these characters is a sort of Torquemada, pos
sessed by a lust of cruelty which grows rankly
with indulgence Another is whose hui
who pays the penalty of his successes in the loss
of his sweetheart. The vigor, the quivering
energy of her onslaught shows that the author
heartily believes her crusade to be a holy one;
she certainly makes ii an interesting and In
some Of its phases affecting one. The love
of the crippled boy for the wise little perform
ing dos who is at once his only comrade and
the means of his livelihood, is painted with
touching truth and simplicity. AS for the scene
in the laboratory when little TriXy tries avert
her doom by exhibiting all her small talents, it is
as strong it is painful.
Kate Of Kate Hall" is in part modern YER
sion of the Tanning of the Shrew." 1t is not an
Improvement upon Shakespeare. though it is
possible that the people who said to be
bored by the poet of all time will read it with
huge enjoyment. 1t is a thoroughly artificial
story Of a beautiful girl cursed with abOmi-
nabe temper. She is threatened with the loss of
fine fortune unless she is married within a GER
tain period set by a kinSWoman's will Her
outrageous treatment of her "Petruchio,' the
failure of her other suitors to touch her heart
and satisfy her taste, and the intrigues of inter
ested persons seeking to prevent her marriage
make up the material of the plot. The thing
has the smell OF the modern footlghts about it
it seems to have been written with an eye to
dramatization. 1t is packed with conversation
TINS Is fair specimen of the same: