The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-03-11
NEWS OF THE BOOK WORLD
Another Case Where the Hero Gets the.
Girl and the Real Hero Is PlstoIed- Eden
Phlllpotts' Recent Book, "The Amerl-
can Prisoner" q Story OF the Days OF
the Revolution and OF the Imprisonment
OF Americans In England.

What constitutes ''the hero in the
modern move? This question has been
forced upon this column more than once
IN recent months. It comes up again In
reading Eden Phillpotts' The American
PRISONER, Romance of the West Country,
ana that book once more suggests as a
fair definition of 1.-THE hero in the ro-
mances Of the day--the man who gets the
glrl. No matter II he be a ''watery Reu-
pen. as g e. Chesterton calls him, no
matter u he take only minor part In the
action; Of the book and only comes into
5ene llmellght at the last moment to
rescue the heroine from the hands OF the
5v N,l, still he is "the hero" who gets
me the girl The hero' of The American
p edMN Cecil Stark, may not justly be
ne IS given little opportunity to show the
reader the kind Of stuff that thoro-
gong hero is made Of. BY comparison
with John Lee, the man who doesn't and
couldn't COZ. properly get the girl, he is not '.in
IT IN the quality of his heroism.
but what the hero lacks the villain
gains Peter Norcot is a proper villain.
using proper" as the Britisher does-ay.
a very proper villain. He is a smooth
schemer, his deviltry knows no depths, and
ne never let's go--in this world, at least.
he IS rich and wishes to marry Grace
N y the heroine. Grace, Of course.
detests him. But he decides to mar her
whether she will or no, and to that end
deVotes the whole wealth of his yillainy.
AZ last he k1dnaps the girl and carries her
70 his home, over which a sister presides.
men ne lays a pretty plot to marry her.
=! he mas her locked up in a dark room in
MS factory. He manages to bring r. his
home Stark, who is an escaped American
revolutionary prisoner from the Dartnoor
prison near. He then explains that hay-
ing at last learned the depths of Grace's
dislike for himself, he has decided to aid
her in getting the man of her. choice.
STARK. But he says she has met with an
INJURY 70 her eyes which will necessitate
the ceremonys being performed in a dark
ened room. He goes to Grace and tells
ner that he has given her up and will aid
ner IN marrying Stark, to whom her father
IS bitterly opposed. He tells her, however,
that Stark has been injured In prison and
that he is threatened with the loss Of
MS sight, making marriage in the dark
necessary. In the meantime he has bribed
a pro OF his own feather, a clergyman.
TO perform the ceremony. with the under
standing that at the critical moment he
(Peter NorcoD will take the hand of the
glri and be married to her. while Stark
will be holding the hand of Norcot's sis
ter in the dark thinking the words are
being spoken to him. John Lee and not
the nero is the man who spoils this clever
piece Of villainy
For another specimen of depravity we
would recommend as a very interesting
study Lovey Lee, John Lees grandmother
Lovey is miser and will do anything for
gold, absolutely anything; the author is
convincing in that. Lovey years before
had stolen the famous Malherb amphora,
a precious vase worth about ! $40, OOO
Ihlngs finally become too hot for her about
Dartmoor and she starts for France. She
barely gets started, however, when two
OF Malherb's men come upon her They
learn that she is about to leave tha corr, :
Try and know, therefore, that she must
nave money about her: Knowing her char
acter they do not hesitate to demand
something for not molesting her. He,, Of
Ter is too small. She increases it, but thew
demand more. She raises 1t again and
pulls out the money, but the sight Of it
only Whets their desire and they demand
still more. Then one Of them wants to
know what she has in a box she is carry
c1ous amphora, which they recognize only
as bauble of the Woman's however. But
seeing her solicitude regarding it, thew
threaten to smash it if she does not give
them more money. One of them sets it up
a few PAGES off and begins to throw stones
in its direction, between throws demanding
more money. Ugh! 1t gives one the shiv-
ers TO- see those two yokels throwing
stones at a rare bit of art in glass, worth
a round 100000 And then Malherb comes
up.
Altogether the story is one of very much
more than ordinary interest. It deals with
villainy Of More than usual depth if not
! with love of corresponding. character Its
villains are better drawn than it's heroes
with the possible exception Of John Lee
The climax is satisfactory and follows a.
series Of incidents none Of which the read
er cares to skip If only Cecil Stark
had little more good red blood in him!