New-York tribune., 1906-05-05
Lffe~dry VeaOS and Criticism

r.
Wardman elects TO keep hero and heroine on
terms OF the sternest antagonism. so that at
times we wonder how in the world he is ever
going 70 contrive that the two shall be recon-
eiled Meanwhile. we are entertained by the
conflict Of Wills and by Harding's imperturba-
Die persistence. He is a prodigiously masterfui
young man, and so accustomed TO having his
own way that there seems kind of poetic JUS
tice in the two wounds he has to endure. But
not even wounds can stop him. and he Illus
trates' II ever a young man in a novel did, the
faculty OF the American for making the best of
tight place. II is sprightly tale. well told.
II we must have stories of shipwreck. piracy
and the like served up to US in fiction meant
Tor adult readers. then at any rate let US have
them served up in books like "The Sea Maid"
Alr. Macdonald has a way with him that the
uflest old curmudgeon could hardly resist He
Is gayiy irresponsible in the tone that he adopts
Dut that is possibly what makes him worth
reading There are enough serious novels in
the world It is pleasure to come now and
tnen upon book which is freely fantastic
AND yet THE Sea Maid'''is not altogether fam
tastie' either. It is true that the things that
Occur within its pages are extraordinary in the
luiiest sense OF the term. But as the strange
uisila IS unfolded we see that it hangs together
---N'AAOAAP SAAoC a SOOQ zeal or human
nature mas gone TO the making of it. and even
e.lse 'le author is trife more disposed to sug-
eesI generous ideas 70 us than are many novel
lists who make much more OF a nretenca 40 how
ing message" TO deliver. This Is one Usv
OF saying that strain of fine feeling runs
'flroush the texture Of Mr.. Macdonalds soma
what Iar-retched narrative. He is a promising
young novelist. The man who could write This
gentle playful and quite interesting book is a
man from whom the jaded novel reader would
be glad to hear again.
me Truth About Tolna" Is a story OF
"'i' me IN New York, Of young man with
"i,ie'c uiOus voice and personality that Is
enveloped IN mystery. The voica ,ot,'-.,,.,
means much TO the evolution of the plot hut
the mystery, just as naturally means mora
Inc author must make her hero sing. and sbe
duiy does so. introducing the scenes that are
lheVltahle in novel Of the sort but Miss
hunkle shows upon this occasion the same dis
cretion that marked her first book. 4Tha uaIret
OF Navarro she puts the musical perform
ances OF Tolna where they belong in the per-
specuve, and wreakS herself largely on the fab
rication Of romance which suffers rnanv
notifications through the obscurity surrount7inr
MS private affairs. Various amusing social types
enter the plot. and a good deal OF the book is
does
not however, weaken its construction. which Is
in fact, smooth and effective throughout. The
author has given a novel turn TO a kind Of
fiction in which convention too often rules.
Miss Powelrs new romance, 'The Prisoner ~
ornith Farms" has for heroine lust such a
girl as she put before US in "The House on the
Hudson" clever beauty, conscious Of her own
charms But as we know from the earlier book
&l5iG
young lady's character or adventures Miss
Hope Carmichael is entirely lovely and entirely
lovabie, and there is, accordingly. nothing more
to be said. AS usual, she gets into desperate
trouble. She is still a youngster when a
stranger meets her in the country. gazes affee-
tionately upon her, gives her a broken sixpence
and then disappears. Years go on, and on the
night Of her betrothal she manages to get adrift
in boat without any oars. and. at the psyche
logical moment the stranger OF her childhood
rescues her-and imprisons her at Ornith Farm
There it is the intention OF her wicked host that
she shall ultimately marry him. and as he seems
70 have a malign power over the other persons
on the premises. so that none OF them can help
her, the outlook is a little more than dubious.
The interest OF the book resides altogether in
the efforts of the fair prisoner to escape. Again
and again she is on the verge of freedom, but
always her rascalIy jailer intervenes until at
last fate is too strong even for him. The plot
obviously is not very intricate but Miss Powell
gets all that there is to be got out of il in re-
spect to mystery and suspense, the elements to
which she owes her most characteristic effects.
The title of Miss SIIberrad's novel, "Curayl."
in some vague way suggests to US the name of
the poison into which certain South American
tribes are said to dip their arrows, and perhaps
because Of this association of ideas not
surprised TO find that it is a gloomy book. It
opens with soul stirring sermon by a man
masquerading a clergyman. This, to begin
with is a little troublesome. But matters are
made worse when Lady Beatrice Goyte- Curayl
appears. She has sold herself to a rich hus-
band. a person only feebly to be described as
bounder and a beast, and she has some very
frank talk on the subject with the pseudo cler-
gynan. This rather CRATES, but it is nothing to
what follows when these two meet again in
the midst Of an epidemic of typhus, or when
Beatrice and her vulgar lord exchange views
on their matrimonial vexations. 1t seems rea-
sonable enough that Sir William should die a
tragic death, and that his widow should be in
suited by an abominable scamp. One is pre-
pared for anything that is disagreeable. in
'Curayl" But one is not so prepared because
of anything rational in the book, anything
humanely logical. It is simply that Miss Sill
berrad seems bent upon telling an ugly. morbid
tale and therefore we accept "Curayl" as 1t
stands. We wonder why this sort of thing
should seem, TO a really plausible writer, worth
doing
We wonder, too, why Miss Harraden should
ever have dreamed OF writing The Scholars
Daughter" In an old English manor house she
establishes professor and his secretaries, all
absorbed in the compilation Of a dictionary. The
professors daughter is expected 10 turn book
worm, too. but. in the way Of the young girl Of