New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-23
LOVE, ART AND LOGIC.
Three of the Ne5U Spring Books of
Fiction.

THE DUST OF CONFLICT. BY Harold Bindloss.
iamo. pP vi &c. S0' frederick Stokes u Conn.
pany.
FELICITY. The Making of COmedienne. BY
Der Stephens. l2mo. PIP. WILL 42s Charles
THE THINKING MACHINE BY jacques Flu
treble. illustrated by the Idnneys l2mo PIP
$40. Dodd, Mead Co.
The Dust OF Conflict" is a good love story.
plentifully enlivened by adventurous incidents.
II begins at a country house in England with
promise Of rather conventional things. young
man engaged TO be married is being blackmailed
by the father Of a girl with whom he has had
an innocent Irritation. His friend, the hero Of
the tale. undertakes to quell the blackmailer,
and when the latter loses his life under mys-
ferrous circumstances he fees TO America.
thereby diverting suspicion from the lover to
himself. Naturally when Bernard Appleby does
this he is cherishing a hopeless love for the
woman his unworthy friend is 10 marry. What
else could expect in a novel? But. while Mr.
BindlOss begins in this trite fashion, he man
ages to give his narrative a really interesting
turn without much delay, and he shows this
faculty throughout the bulk Of the novel. Chiv-
arous young men have come to this country
before, in novels; have won the appreciation Of
rich men with beautiful and sympathetic daugh-
tiers, and have seen a good deal of miscellaneous
! cast anchor with hearts assuaged. But MI
Bindloss's young man goes through the familiar
PAGES with an air Of his own, and has advent
ures that are somehow beguiIing in spite OF their
familiarity. He is hero of the quietly stead
fast sort, submitting TO a great wrong with
fortitude that proves him every inch a man.
and the worthy knight Of the woman 10 whom
ne has never confessed his love The reader de-
veops a decided liking for this honorable adj
venturer and follows the tale not only with at
tention. but with a lively hope that all may
come right i'm the end for so deserving and gal
liant fellow. The tale is told with spirit. It
ought TO prove popular.
The heroine of Felicity" is lucky beyond the
dreams OF most ambitious young women. Born
with a histrionic gift. but brought up in a
household dominated by a decidedly anti-theat-
rical grandmother. 1t would seem as If the
chances of her ever displaying herself upon the
stage could not but be of the slenderest. Miss
Laughlin disposes Of the usual obstacles with
astonishing ease In her very first chapter she
brings upon the scene celebrated comedian,
old enough TO have played in London in the
time OF Charles Lamb but young enough in
heart TO sympathize with a child engaged with
her comrades in playing at acting. This kindly
old gentleman. OF course. discerns in little
Felicity Fergus the markings of brilliant
actress and with sublime good nature takes
4
her into his company TO play juvenile parts.
The last touch is given 10 his beneYoence when
he takes Felclty's Aunt Amelia along, too. 1t
is fortunate for Miss Laughllns story that the
second OF the three parts into which it is d-
vided is headed Twelve Years Later" The
break I'm the narrative is convenient II lures
the reader into forgetting 10 ask Just how
Felicity was really made into successful per-
! former Nevertheless this question returns,
/ after a while and the upshot Of the matter is
| that the authors study of an artistic tempera-
1 ment is found wanting in FEASIBILITY The plot
Of this book is slight in construction and the
! characterization is likewise superficial. Fee
licity is always on the verge OF arousing our
svmpathv. but never quite steps over the line
dividing the puppet OF fiction from the human
being OF actual life. Her story moves on at a
fairly animated pace, but when II stops we do
NOT Zee, that II has travelled very far
Professor Augustus S. T. X. Vaa Dusen, the
scientific rersonage who solves the problems set
IN the seven stories Of The Thinking Machine. "
! Is about as clever a variation on the Sherlock
Holmes motive as any We have ever met. He is
an eccentric loeician. possessing the queer little
personal traits Which writers OF aeticn seem TO
think should always lie bestowed upon masters