New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-10-07
Il STRANGE WOOTNG.
Another Pair of Stanley Weyman''
Peculiar Lovers.

STARV BCROw FARM. By Stanley ]. Weyman.
12mo. PIP. vi, 429. Longmans. Green & CO.
On the question of originality in affairs of
the heart Mr. weyn1an is firm. If there is any
thing which he detests more than weakness in
a woman, II is weakness in her lover. If
romance of his cannot move to stirring music
he will not try to make 1t move at all: nay,
rather a harsh measure for him than the
languorous strains of the Lutte. His heroes have
been known to sigh, and in the long run his
herones always melt, but a courtship carried
within his pages is apt to be grim affair,
with the and woman most closely con-
cerned necessarily on the alert to be sharp
as possible with each other. The hero of
"Starvecrow Farm" is not the formidable Great
ure that the hero OF Count Hannibal was,
but his woong is almost strange. In fact, 1t
is not until the story has reached its very last
stage that Captain Anthony Clyne learns that
there is even the smallest hope Of his winning
the heart of Miss Henrietta Damer. Up to that
time the gallant but austere gentleman is
chiefly occupied in making himself hateful to
the object of his love, and she in her turn seems
bent doing everything she can to make him
unhappy. Incidentally they inspire in the reader
a keen interest in the upshot of their fencing.
The scene of the story IS laid in England
Just after the close OF the Napoleonio wars
Captain Clyne wishes to marry Miss Damer
but. since he has not very romantic tempera-
Tnent, he seeks to arrange the matter in de-
cidediy unloverlike fashion. Meanwhile the
scornful young woman becomes enamoured of a
jailbird tricked out in fine feathers, and eopes
with him to make a Scotch marriage. This
dangerous step is taken just the book opens
and to all appearances the heroine's fate is
sealed Fortunately, however the political and
economic troubles of the period have put the
police upon their mettle, and it so happens that
al n
pair justice comes hot foot upon the trail of
the villain in the case He abandons Henrietta
at roadhouse inn and presently Captain
Clyne appears. Had he come to her rescue with
the promptings of love in his heart he might
have managed TO find a bride. no matter what
words happened in the indiscretfon of the
moment to pass his lips But then Mr. Wey-
man would have had no story to tell AS a
matter of fact, the captain arrives only to tell
the foolish maiden that her family has cast her
off, and when the law steps in to learn what
she tell Of the rascal who had lured her
from her home, and she incontinently refuses
to betray her secret, he blunderingly makes
things worse. Henrietta is adamant and the
tale proceeds.
It is an exciting tale. with further thrilling
episodes. Captain Clyne's only child is abduc+
ed by rufTians, who have been in the recent mast
associated with the outlaw who has caused all
liie IIOuDle ana Tell circumstance causes Henri
eta TO be placed in tragically embarrassing
relation to the crime. She can put the officers
on the track of the kidnappers. but to do so
she must leave them to the man with whom
she had eloped. and, while she has come TO Ioathe
him. she cannot do a deed of treachery which
would make her loathe herself How she
energies from her predicament We leave the
reader to find out. He win enjoy the expert
ence for Mr.. Weyman has used his narrative
gift to good purpose in this book. and has also
shown all his old skill in the delineation if not
in the creation, Of character. Though no single
figure in 'Starvecrow Farm" has the weight or
fascination of many figure in the authors
stories of old French life, all the actors in the
present volume are wildly set forth Henrietta
Is an engaging young woman: Gypsy Bess. her
iFa' Is delightfully."- picturesque, and not I'm a
long time have we met so likabIe a scold as Mrs
"iisoh' who presides over the inn chosen for
i"oNt u the scenes. The women in fact, take
most Of the honors on this occasion but that
uoeS iio' maze the book any the less readable.