New-York tribune., 1905-08-05
PURE ROMANCE.
Three Stories of LoUemaking an
Strange Lands.

THE RED CRAvAT. BY Alfred Tresidder Stsi1flr sh1ep
Company
MAY MARGARET cALLEp THE 95odt.tF EAR MAD Hihl
trated 12mo, PIP viii, 375. Dodd. Mead
Coz
MAID OF JAPAN. BY Mrs Hugh Fraser. 12no.
PIP. DO. (IIenry Holt e. Coz
The author of THE Red Cravat' may be- for all
we know. an author of much experience. but he
writes like amateur. and that is why we like
his book. In these days of facie professionalism
when even the trashiest novel is turned off with
a certain mechanical pttude. it is refreshing to
come across a romancer who misses snugness
by missing knowledge of the ropes, by wreak-
ing himself in the simplest fashion on the sim
pest motive MI Sheppard might have made
his romance of the days in which almost any
traveller more than six feet tall was likely to be
kidnapped for the army of Frederick William
of Prussia. portentously historical affair, with
all manner of dramatic incidents brought in to
fill q spacious canvas. Instead of that he leaves
the kings court to care for itself, while he re-
lates the comiCal misfortunes of one of the
courtiers. and makes his case of kidnapping sub
ordinate to as pretty a tale of true love
could expect to find in current fiction. The book
is little ncoherent and it contains good many
passages which look suspicously like padding.
Moreover, the god from the machine plays his
part with unbushing disregard of the prob
mercy-if we could. But all the time there is
something about Mr Sheppards way something
of nafvete and of purely romantic fervor, which
makes it impossible for the reader to find any
thing save pleasure in the book. The Red
Cravat" is worth reading.
Mr.. Crockett's storv begins in France and
ends in Scotland in the good old times of battle,
murder and sudden death. The heroine. when
first make her acquaintance. is doing the
nf
in the nunnery of the Holy Saint Brgida of
Cheverery. She is a radiant damsel. and though
it has been arranged that she is to marry
William, the head of the House of Douglas, she is
scarce outside the convent walls before she has
got more than swain to signing his head off.
Marrying the Douglas. indeed gives her scant
protection against the god of love. and when her
husband dies she is promptly espoused by his
brother James Even this does not put an end
to the fair lady's romantic transactions.
third lover duly appears upon the scene. and
the way for his triumph is paved by the follow
ing letter to the chatelaine of Thrieve:
Dear Cozin Marget,-I write to tell you that
am marrlet TO POOR Jack Nevilles Anne. she that
was Anne Holland. ken weel that ye VIII max
no wry nor scurvy faces TINS news, but con
trary-wise, be heart-gIad no longer 70 De tled 10
one VINO Is forever tripping ana stumbling toward
Conn Aarget ] wish ye weel. I wad that it had
to you but / e DO The best can Tor
WIDOW woman young also-out nam Drocht me
portion. ii you nave augnt mat you can spare
from your g-IoOt, pray remember your low
ing Cozn James. tor IN truth am IN hard case
gwen me his Order OF the Garter for a bit battle
Iocht tor HIM near TO Shrewsbury and Tor cutting
gwen me the tlve hunder nopies he promised
Inc than hale cart-load OF Carriers.
But this l did give TO Poor Jack Neve's
Anne to bind up stockings wthal. And in
We had between us anent the matter in Poor Jack
Nevllies sometime rose garden, that Anne and l
hope, dear Cozin, you viii not into nun
merry. To mind there is no sense IN such places
but instead L prithee, so ind a better man than
me-! All the same, tair day or Ioul day. am
resolvit to do the best l can for Poor Jack Ne
Whilk Receive from Your Laying 10y cozia,
Above all do not forget the sler; John Tweedie,
isle town is sa fc man to send it BY and kens
me weel: If it is matter of thousand merks.
Written from, my lodging in Southwark Borough
Town where Anne and l would do ILL., if IL
were not for our poverty.
Aprile the 3oth
Thus were affairs matrimonial arranged in
Scotland in the time of the Douglas. There are
other affairs in this book, sanguinary and star
Ting, and all of them set forth by Mr.. Crock
EFT in leisurely and iorid fashion. He is a
great hand at the romantical- -heroical and
though he takes longer TO get over the ground
than seems strictly necessary, he supplies fair
enough diversion for the not too exacting
reader.
"A Maid of Japan is a blithesome tale of the
East and the West AT the outset it threatens
to be mournful. selfish Britisher has paused
in Japan long enough TO marry one of the ma
tives, but it has not occurred to him, return
ing to England, TO take his Oriental wife with
him, she confides their child to the care of
one whom she trusts, and quietly browns her
self in the sea. The years roll on. The child
grows up. Another Britisher pauses In Japan
long enough to fall in love with one of the ma
tives, and, wonder of wonders who should he
fall in love with but the beautiful offspring of
his hard hearted predecessor We look for
repetition of the old story. but Mrs. Fraser is
kind and brings about the most unexpected
and cheerful occurrences. including the identi-
ication of the original Britisher with the last
person in the world whom the newcomer could
suspect of having possessed a japanese house
hold of his own. "A Maid of Japan is short
and mildly entertaining. A little humor Is sup
piled through the conversation of a JAPANESE
cicerone who has studied in America and added
many slang terms to his vocabulary The book
is decorated with touches of Japanese design
II