New-York tribune., 1907-09-14
Nee NoUels By Miss Nay Sinclair
and Dir. Joseph Conrad.

In her new novel Miss Sinclair conveys the i'm
-assion of a doctor watching case" and re-
-,o-tjng on its progress with q kind OF dis
-,assionate solicitude Walter Majendie. the
taro of The Helpmate." marries good woman
come seven years after engaging in a scandaious
.---3r1e with another mans wife Anne Ma
indie would not have married him if she had
l,,ovgn Of the blot upon his past and when too
10 II Comes to her knowledge, she settles down
. cold observance of her duties. being con-
i-ce5 that she can never feel an atom of love
.o- fbe man who has grossly disilusionlzed
rer To her pure mind Majendie Is merely
,os4hsorne He. having repented. and being OF
. .,--,-,arl,etic nature. is willing to admit that
che has q grievance, and he tries MS pest
% ebow that the love he bears his wife Is true
and is worthy Of her acceptance There MISS
sinclair has her case The HelpI1ate as L
.+orv IS not to be mentioned in the same breath
With THE Divine Fire the book which won
Miss Sinclair her repute. 1t seems hardly
-, At all. but rather. as we have indicated,
. -anort from the sickroom. There are some
-,au DEVELOPMENTS to the plot MaJenole -
5-i,-an by his wife's icy demeanor 10 ColSoie
h,r,se1f with the discarded mistress OF one u
~ friends and the news of this arrahseiliei''
cf his is ultimately brought to Anne oy 'lo
woman who had first caused our suSOei'
nero 20 so astray- This temptress reaPpe''1S'
+oo as the book draws to.a close anu o
+i,r,+es to the crisis essential 10 the wlndlhs
,,n of the whole dreary business IN ''iiV.
Ids there are episodes in The Helplla'e
.,,;cr are non1inally Of a dramatic character
D. ~ ,,o+to711 Miss Sinclair deals with just one
.,+,,.-;o, the domestic misery Of the MaJehuleS'
are N the wife's uncompr0mising at'ltuue A"0
result is drab and painful composition
Tho note Of sickness, of a kind Of moaning
distress is kept up from beginning 10 ~
1hera Is scarce a wholesome figure in the pooN
The long drawn out agonies OF the man anu
his wife would be bad enough by OleIl9e'
A. though 10 make matters worse his sister. VINO
,i,-es with them and shares in their mehIdl W.
hos nhvsical burden Of her own 10 bear @ 0re
suffers from "a beast Of spine Inc emu
Nh, PRESENTLY comes to diversity things IN tfllS
oooziny housebold is one of those por'eh'ouS
,,--1a creatrres known only in fiction WHO
have 2 gift for throwing emphasis upon any
,bing tragic that happens TO be going %" ~
,tair neighborhood When Anne Is iuiiii"7
,,o- coma of her husbands old clothes the
child exclairras 'Oh, mummy! don't YOU 'o"'
6addv's things as If YOU didn't ike ll7i
--,o friends of the family are mostly either DIS
reputable or given TO petty gossip 14eiO
,rnnoense amount of talk in the book ABOUT sol
-, +1.i.s ohou- love and duty and spirituality
,,6 so IN But the sum total Of Miss Sinclair S
.rso-, N male her sad case interesting anu
wa suppose inspiring is a feeble sIchLlieSS
which we find very distasteful
T. is in no wise redeemed by the pains that
-be author has taken with her style III q
manner suggestive somewhat OF MI heliIS
lanes she endeavors. by much elaborateness oI
rbyase 10 make unmportant things Impressive
wishing 10 explain that Majendie had come 10
regard the evil woman Of the book as peIsoh
withdrawn from his life. she says that He mad
Ha- daTTfrply. COnSuTnrnately Ge-
-,ar4ed,, There are reams more Of this sort OF
thing We appreciate the effort, but 1t does
not reconcile Us 10 the authors failure to give
us well told story, filled with creatures Oh
flesh and blood. For the rich. fun canvas Oh
THE Divine Fire" peopled with sympatheuc
human beings and enveloped in an original at
unosphere Miss Sinclair has substituted doie-
fui picture Of q number Of figures VINO never
once carry conviction. II is disappointing, and
Il is bewildering, that a book showing so hrln
q grasp as THE Divine Fire" should be fol-
lowed by one suggestive. rather, of the imma-
ture author, meddling inefectively with an un-
pleasant theme.
We had stimulating glimpses some tire ago.
in the pages Of a short lived magazine, Of the
novel by Nr Joseph Conrad, called The Secret
Agent The few chapters we happened to read
rromised well and we glad to find, now
that the tale has come out in book form. that
II 571stiHes our expectations It is Of course, a
slightly difficult novel. Mr.. CGnrad's work
nearly always requires rather patient reading
On the other hand, he makes patience worth
while. and we forgive him the long stretches
If dull stuff in the book for the sake or the
uoigrancv which ne achieves at the right mo7
nents His central parsonage is a corpulent
and stupid man. who has for years been secretly
employed by the London Embassy Of a great
fT1Tar
his loyalty TO a new test. and the outcome of
this is disaster Of the oldest sort A dynamite
outrage is followed by murder. and this Is
-ba r,re;ude TO q suicide. Flat sensattonalism'
fta reader might be disposed to call fiction made
ont OF such material But Mr. Conrad Is the
last novelist in the world TO rely for his ef1ects
upou mere sensation. His first opJecI' anu ili'
last is TO create an atmosphere dark fnyS-
terious element in which we watch the move
r,ents of mems minds hardly caring what hap
pens TO their bodies. The drift of the tale is
curious. The futility OF secretly procured vio-
lence IN the management Of mundane affairs IS
shown plainly enough. and Mr. Conrad is well
come. # he wants it, to the credit that is award
ed TO a clever satirist. But il is not for his
satire that We care most The absorbing thing
g, his work IS his subtle analysis of mental
states his portrayal of this that feverish and
sinister TYNE His Mr. Verloc is contemplate
soul vet we follow his adventures with breath
less curiosity. Though the narrative again ana
again goes heavily. and even obscurely. most II
not all OF the personages in it are put before
rs with astonishing realism Queer lightning
flashes in the fog of words not only Illuminate
their features. but seem to expose the last
secrets of their hearts and brains We would
like to see sThe Secret Agent rewritten Ma
terfaliy condensed. it would be a better book.
haar stamp