The San Francisco call., 1905-04-30

him. They were usually dark pupiled.
tragic. full of intelligence. The clear
brow from which the red brown hair
was drawn back seemed to him to have
an ideal purity, like the features. deli
cate and finely nodded"
After this sight of her came passion
ate dreams OF Hecla Sandwith TO the
man who for long marred but later
made her happiness. Because. of the
dreams, he felt strange sense of near
ness to the woman with whom he had
barely exchanged a word. Then the
wish for her possession grew in him
as a supreme necessity. So begins the
study of the principal masculine char
acter, and evidently Valentine intends
to portray a strong man. At least this
Is implied in the success granted him
in the closing chapters: but for so long
did he cause woman mental pain. and
so narrowly did he miss making COM
plete wreck both of the woman's and
his own happiness that the ffrmness
of his determination 10 win and marry
her without first securing her love
seems as much the act of what is
weakly selfish in human nature as of
what is strong and manly in the ex-
I
psychology of our judgment is that if
he had failed we would have censured
him as weak, but as he won we call
him strong.
Immediately after her marriage.
Hecla, while alone in her apartments.
is revisited by that old dread of mar
riage which got the entree to her soul
at the time Of her mothers tragic.
/ child birth death. She escapes from
the house and runs through the night
like a woman gone mad. and when her
new made husband finds her trying to
get away in a boat, she pleads that, in
spite OF the marriage. their relations
shall be just that of friends as ii was
before the ceremony. So they live in
separate houses.
Later, estrangement comes over busi-
ness matters. Hecla thinks her hus-
band. for love of her, should take
charge OF the Sandwith property,
which her half brother was misman-.
aging. Hallett holds that he is honor
bound TO give all his time and talents
to the enterprise he had advised and
undertaken for others. The crisis of
estrangement between these two strong
natures came thus: Hecla dislikes his
friend. Hallett firmly says he will not
1 give up his friends even at his wife's
dictation. Then" said the angry wo-
man, Il give you up
Hecla Sandwith and her two lovers
are a quite strong trio of characters.
but they all have their weaknesses
which caused life for them to work
out its problems very painfully. Went
= Il Let l,sr a1f
/ love his cousin before her marriage,
and still weaker when, though she was
another's wife, he told her he still
I loved her. Hallett was weakly cruel
enough TO tell his wife, when the tie
I between them was strained close to the
breaking point. that he knew she loved
( her cousin. Hecla was weak enough
TO marry from "a sense of duty and
passivity to an overmasterful man, al
though love by its absence left the act
unconsecrate.
I Such is the thread of fact on which
Valentine has strung what James Lane
: Allen considers jewels of literary ex-
/ preston, but. which he thinks the
young author has been all too brief
\ in handling to develop the possibilities
of its treatment in fully dignified and
ennobling way. 1t is a theme, he
/ thinks. a George. Eliot might have
chosen. and evidently he wishes Valen
I tine had presented his vision and
wrought out its psychology in a novel
/ of such length and elaboration as to
deliver the full effect of strong writ
er's earnest effort. and be worth the
/ time of an attentive reader to get all
its lesson and enlightenment.
(Bobbs- Merrill Company, Indianap-
olis.)