New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-02-10
4 BEAUTIFUL DEVIL.
another Dartmoor Drama Unfotded
bu Dir. PhH1pOtts.

Vi. 49, The Macmillan Company.
THE ONE WHO SAW. BY Headon Hill. With
T f3ao I pb iS s7g iuI B. w Dodge Co
THE PASSENGER From Re + Gales fIse by 20 Arthur
MR.. sCRAGGs. INTRODUCED BY RED ID, sAUN IN
DERS BY Henry Wallace Phid5Ips' WIN IN, h isx
Illustrations by n. c. Wyeth. 12mo PIP Vlii' lSo'
The Grafton Press
The prevailing atmosphere of pastoral calm in
which the Dartmoor of Mr.. Phnpottss novels
&c enveIoped has before this been broken in upon
~, events of dramatic and even thrilling sig
,,,eoorca But never before has he painted
,,ite such a lurid type that which we en-
counter in the leading woman of the drama un-
folded in THE Portreeve" Primrose Horn tfie
daughter of a well-to-do farmer, Is superb
human animal. She falls desperately IN love
With Dodd Wolferstan the handsome young
.,e office which gives this book us
.i+o He is as ambitious as ne 10 pi0'p
:. ,ae,,e almost like flying in the race u
;sorca for him TO disdain the chahce A'
,,or,iness. of a sort. and for worldly auN 60
,-,en+ offered to him in Miss Horn Pie''S'
lions infatuation But fate mas o'hei -
:, etore for Dodd: he chooses 10 lose ms -
- I1at yeIland. and from this choice Win = M
u H. background to accelerate matters
disaster soon flows. Primrose, beauului do S''0
:. ,,avs the mart of an incarnate devil.
A. FIRST she tries with the aid of a rival OF
,,odd,s to break the latter's engagement, ana
when she succeeds and sees her accolllpice
safely married to Iet she feels cohnoenl lid'
her own marriage to the man she azores 10 oii'
a ouestion of time. Unfortunately Tor her pldhS'
- tho very moment in which Dodd has surren-
dered TO her wiles, the death OF his suppIahtei
en- Uet's affections opens path through WHICH
he NAV return to his first love. and his alacrity
t,ary1S
into an avenging fury. With diabolical craft
che hounds the man she has loved so long
,hro,,qh wears Of agony and the drama is
,ro,,ebt TO a close in flood of tragic horror
u &c good drama, so good that the reader is
moi content to put the book down uhlii ne haS
finished it. Mr.. Phipotts has never SHOWN
himself to be better story teller than he Is
In these pages. The action is steadily progress
e;,,e and though it moves deliberately enough
n he in accord with the spirit of life OH Dart
,,,oor it is never tedious. 1t has, too kind
~ logic which is perhaps the best proof of the
artbor's maturity in everything that means
4o.bpioue He is sltilful in the management of
It, nlot and he shows something more than
sliu he shows something OF the poetic tempera-
,oen+ in his handling of the charming natural
background against which his characters are
nlaced He knows mis- Dartmoor, OF that there
aa,, he M question AS to his knowledge of the
human soul we are not so sure.
Dodd Wolferstan, in his strength and in his
weakness, is q credible figure. So is Ilet yell
land. whom we find, indeed. one of the most
engaging Of all the simple, pretty rustics this
novelist has portrayed. and we recognize an au-
tboritafive touch in all of the subsidiary figures
pr+ Primrose Horn gives pause. To begin
with. Mr. Phillpotts does not seem to be abso-
1u,eIv certain about her himself At one mo-
nent she seems very much the Wild farmers
daughter. with traits, good or bad. betting her
station Then she is drawn more in the Euise
az some sinister creature. strayed from higher
spl,ere 10 trouble the happiness of peasants with
whom she has. at bottom. nothing In common
Little points of manner. OF breeding, first excite
suspicion: the broad question of character then
intrudes itself and in the long run. we are con-
strained to feel that Primrose is not 'all or
Piece" that she lacks the solid reality ana con-
sistency OF a truthfully painted human peihs'
Her recI1lessness does not ring true we are
| 5keptical when she takes Dodds rival into her
confidence with completeness not simply I'M