New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-09-30
THE RETURN OF SHE"
Rider Haggard Resumes an Old
Story after Trenty Years.

THE PASSPORT BY Richard Bagot LIMO pp.
as Harper & Bros.
THE MAYOR OF TROY, By 4, T Quiuer- Couch.
I2mo PIP. vi. S4. Charles Scribner's Sons.
by Harrison Fisher. limo. PIP. Vi. SAB. Dodd,
safead & CO.
In publishing 'Ayesha" pronounced Assha)
Mr. Haggard does more than give his public a
good story to read. He brings back memories
OF a time when the town quite mad about
his work; so mad that. after while. it got into
the way of talking though it were a little
ashamed of itself for having once hung spell
hound over books obviously absurd. The psy-
Geological fit followed the fantastical fit and its
ravages were 50 severe that we believe there
are 10 this day people ready TO put on decidedly
patronizing airs If you tell them that you cher
fish the recollection of Umslopagaas and wish
that She would come back. Well.
sorry for the solemn souls who nothing for
the heroic savage and his axe. and we are glad
that after twenty years She has come back.
THE golden snake that had encircled her gra-
cious form slipped over her hips and fell upon
the ground; smaller and smaller she grew; her
skin changed color and in place OF the perfect
wfiteness of its lustre It turned dirty brown
and yellow like an old piece Of withered parch-
Ynent. She felt at her bald head; her delicate
hand was nothing but a claw now. a human
talon, like that Of a badly preserved Egyptian
mummy, and then she seemed to realize what
shrieked-ah, she shriekedl-she rolled upon the
floor and snrieked!' Does not the reader re-
member how he watched that tremendous scene
IN the Caves Of Kor and how the goose flesh
crept alI over him. and how, once and for al.
he admitted Rider Haggard to the ranks Of
those ronaanOers TO whom he would never
cease to be grateful? Let him be loyal now,
and hasten to read ''Ayesha."
He may feel, perhaps we have felt our
TO the book. It Is not very subtle, after all;
It Is simply the freshness with which genius it.
self could hardly hope to invest effects long
since grown familiar. The town, we have
said, went quite mad over ''She." That was
because the book provided a totally new sensa-
ton. and, Of course, since .Ayesha' is simply q
continuation OF the old tale. it cannot claim the
same unexpected charm But it must not be
forgotten that Mr.. Haggard is a of I'M
agination and sAdlful writer into the bargain;
he may not take US by storm but he beguiles US
successfully enough to make it hard to begin
'.Ayesha' and not finish it at a sitting. It is
the kind Of book which one naturally reads
straight through, absorbed in every incident and
intensely concerned to know just what is going
TO happen before the curtain is rung down. It
does not matter that the hero Is still Leo Vim
cey; that his adventures are shared in this case
as in the other. by the same Ludwig Horace |
Holly. and that these two pursue much the
same sort of quest that occupied them in 'She," |
TO the accompaniment of much the same sort of |
mystery. Holly and Leo indomitable as
ever: the perils they have to overcome are still |
calculated Ia make shudder. and Ayesha is |
as weirdly fascinating when she first |
dawned upon the horizon This time are |
carried far into northern Asia, across noun
tains Of incredible height and through fearful |
SHOWS and waters. When the terrors of nature
are passed the travellers have still to face the
Death Hounds Of Kaloon and after those deadly
beasts come even graver tests of courage Be
yond the Place Of Bones-a place whose eerie
potentialities we leave the reader to guess
looms the Mountain Of Hes. and there more
wonders occur. And what of the woman in the
midst of them? Here is Ayesha as she comes
back to
Come hitRer; Papsve and loose these wells" she
Papave advanced and with look Of awe upon
a sss she seemed to tower above her mistress the
ne optsE y9 fG bfo sxealing within Thsss
shape although 1t seemed TO be Of less stature, Of
of Bones So it You'd seem that % our n 1ls
guide and the high priestess Hes were the same.
her Would they never end? How small grew the |
frame within? She vas very short now, unnatu-
grew sick at heart The last bandages uncoiled |
ed hands appeared II hands they could be called
fantastic play of the mind 1 remembered that on |
f asr coffin this princess was named The Beauti-
Everything was gone now except a shift and a
the Prestess Papave who fell half fainting to the
ground and lay there covering her eyes with her
hand Then uttertng something like she
sripped this veil in her thin taIons tore it away
and with gesture OF uttermost despair turned and
Oh! she was-nay, Will not describe her. I
knew knew her at once fgF thus had seen her last
through the mask OF unutterable age, through that
resen1bIance to the Slorgons' and s,yer J HTe
Ayesha: the shape OF The fa0e the air Of defiant
g5as that Tor an instant bore her uD1 know not
Yes, there she stood. and the feroe light Of the
shame
We print this extract not so much to crafty
The readers curiosity as TO piQue It Naturally
Mr.. Haggsrd does not reintroduce his old hero
inc simply to place her In humiEating posi-
ton The spectacle presented by Ayesha when
she discards her wells is appalling to the hero
sI saw Leo's lips turn white and his knees be-
gin to give says Holly. But that is not the
end Of the matter for Leo. or for the reader
Though we must leave the latter TO find out the
thrilling conclusion for himself, We must add
enc word this engaging book It may
not be fresh as its predecessor; some of its
pantornime. But It is well invented and well
-sritten from beginning TO end.
The charm of THE Passport" is the charm Of
"a conventional but genuine love story. While
We seem TO have met the figures and the situa-
,io,s il, IT hundreds Of times before In different
,7tsquises there is sincerity about Mr.. Bagot's |
-.riations on e hackneyed theme which wins |
vrelcone for his book He treats of Italians; Of