The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-10-02
II Partnership
and It's Result

"a ~
Wisgin gives Us one OF her
~ delightful comedies Of hu-
~ - -. '. man nature ii. seems that her
work has been more in the spirit OF
play ana NJ light-h6arted fooling than
OF. consc5e1tf Gus effort. 50 spontaneous
- her fun ard 50. ready her keen quip
on the fcibles Of. weak. mortals. In the
.-Parel6Da". books her spirit Of merri-
.rneht was al its highest; The. Diary of
z Goose Girl was in the same strain
and now after the lapse into serious
ness o.. -Rebecca OF Sunnybrook
Farm We. ma the author giving over
10 more II her whimsical waggishness
II company with three. kindred spirits;
result The Affair at the Inn"
f. Readers remember the news notes
announcing that Mrs. Wiggin. with
three. ceEDanjous IN letters: Mary and
Jane Findlate- and Charlotte Stewart
alias Alan AIcAulay." were summer
Ing il the Devon country last year.
Vow 7re.see that their jaunt into the
-and OF. Loraa Doone was not without
profit 70. readers, for il seems that
while there the four wrought this
composite story in the intervals Of,
slght-seeinz: each assuming 10 herself
ing those fortunes along in happy ad-
.harence- 10 -a.-thread OF q plot, yet in
gay freedom of individuality. The
sum fetal Of. their pastire-or maybe
stern effort. but we. doubt it's a little
comedy OF manners as. clever and di-
Eerrlng as anything on the book mart
Tor the last year. What was fun for
--tha authors is distinctly fun for the
reader -
Mrs Wiggin: has the leading thread
70 the story. IN her hand. Hers it is
TO give IN the breezy .-dictiou Of the fair
Virginia PoHeroy the personal version
Ct the. occurrences al the Grey Tor Inn,
on Dsrtmoor. Devousbire, which event
ualTy took. on the dignity Of an affair.
Virginia. a true daughter Of the Ameri-
/ can State her name sponsor. finds
p. herself in England al behest Of her
inyalid. mother, whose imagined deli
: cscy ct health needs constant change.
There "a the edge Of the bleak moors
cf Dart the fair Virginia discovers a
rhleg1atic young Scotch Baronet,
whose very -seIf-a ssuredness and icy
sloofress from anything feminine
piGUes her into plans for a passage at
arms direct with intrenched Indiffer-
erce. But here the other personages
OF the story. interposa their respective
.eEos- Mary FIndlater has the hand
ling OF q certain Mrs. MacGrl, a
Wsspish widow Of chronic frailty Of
body and inanity Of intellect, whose
duty. as she sees II. Is to please herself
and bother others With her as COM
psnton IS drab body, Miss Cecilia
Eweshau. who plays the foil 70 all Of
Virg;nia1s charms and is plloted
through the tale by the hand Of Miss
Jane Findlster.- Last. Of all. Sir Archi-
+ bald Maxwell Mackenzie. the man in
the case, and the charge Of Charlotte
Stewart. pIoWs his reluctant way TO
the denOpensnt Of the story with true
Scotch canniness.
Eirgnis's first. encounter with Sir
Archibald Is. productive Of her trenchant
comment. upon the attitude OF British
=bschelors toward the unapproprfated
fair. He showed 10 symptoms Of re-
curing ne for any purpose whatever"
says. that young lady. That is the
trouble with the men over here-so
= ooltv1ous, 50 rigid, so conventional; so
: afraid q being chIoroformeS and led
unconscious 10 the altar I Wink that
too. many Of Great Britain's young men
must have been killed of IN South A.
r.cs- and those remaining have risen
% an altogether fictitious value"
- -. Another faux pas OF the part Of the
Scotch Baronet gives Virginia oppor-
tunity 70 voice one OF Mrs. Virgins
clever little sphorisms on the British
plunrness. IN a moment OF rare IN
bending Sir Archibald had asked the
young American miss II she was blessed
with large circle OF relatives. Upon
her reply 10 the contrary he naively
declared: Good thing. too, I dare say.
They say you can't tel anything about
an American family by seeing one Of
them
Upon my word" gasped Virginia in
mental comment. The hopeless candor
q our brethren OF the British Isles is
astonishing Sometimes after a pro-
longed conversation with two or three
CT them I feel like going about the
drawing-room with small broom and
dust pan and sweeping UP the home
truths that should lie n scattered pro-
fusion on the floor"
On the other side OF the question
Charlotte Stewart (Allan McAuIay)
follows the cogftstions Of the Scotch
bachelor with admirable wit and keen
insight From a self-centered man Of
almost boorish proclivities, whose utter
abouluation is womankind We see the
sturdy Scotsman fail by steady and
fatal degrees into the inevitable snare
q the small god Not bad sort" at
first characterizes the American girl
from his view: at the end il is the old
story Of alteration: This parsonage is
wrought by Charlotte Stewart with a
skill little less than Mrs. Virgins own.
The lack Of exaggeration in this char
scter sketch is not ST manifest in Mary
Findlater's Mrs. MacGin: caricature
comes very close 70 Characterization in
her Wo-ks though there are many deft