The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-10-05
THE NEW BOOKS
The Helpmate," by Nay Sinclair "Helena's PATH by
Anthony Hope The Best Man." by
Harold Macgrath.

lions ana dutleS OF husband and wire. a
sermon and a warning. A problem novel
If the problem play, why not the prob
lem novelo involving the most intimate
delicate domestic conditions. A brief
for the man in the case submitted by n
woman, and a single woman in the bar
gain. A novel of great reach down into
the heart of things domestic, of power
and superior understanding. A novel OF
purpose presenting a situation absolutely
and unfortunately true to life. exposing
its consequences with great force ana
f~rankness. and driving home its lesson
with the logic of the inevitable. Such IS
the latest novel Of the author Of The Di-
vine Fire.
On a small canvas Miss Sinclair paints
with infinitely elaborated, at times over
elaborated, detail. Her vital characters
are but two, but every secret recess OF
their minds and souls is searched merci-
iessly. They are typical characters, SEEM
ingly anomalous in the case OF the woman,
but typical, none the less, and they are
drawn with delicacy, finesse, skill and in
sight.
The two are husband and wife. The
husband is a thoroughly good man. a bril-
liant man, too, loyal, tender, OF sweet ols-
position, but very human, with a man
strength and a mans passions.
The wife is a woman whom it is a mat
ter Of difficulty to discuss with the pa
thence with which her creator presents ner
and which the case demands. To put II
straight. she is the most distressful speci-
men ~ the unco' guild. whom Bobby Burns
so held M for immortal detestation, that
ii has been our lot to run across in the
course Of several years. fiction reading.
She is so criminally stupid, so Dino IN
her self-sufficiency, SO cruel in her IN
sistence iipon an impossible ideal of piety
and religion to the sacrifice OF the hap
pjness of all who best loved her and VINO
came beyond its narrow pale, that 1t Is
impossible to find much value in the few
really fine redeeming traits with winch
the author has endowed her.
The story is a tragedy that comes OF a
failure of understanding between husband
and wife, Anne Maiendie had married her
husband, not, as 1t eventuated, for love OF
himself, but for love Of his goodness. While
vet on their honeymoon her idea OF MS
goodness receives a shock, She discovers
he has a past. II does not matter tnat ne
has bitterly repented and amply atoneo'
that he had been led into it, in the first
Mace. through his sense of ohivalry wnlch
q DESIGNING woman had found it easy to
mold 10 her purposes. He had sinned, and
that was enough for his pious 'helpmate
(save the markD. Out of the sunshine OF
her favor he goes into the outer darkness
of coldnes and neglect and thwarted az
lection. TIL more he tries to please her'
to deserve her trust and commence tne
more deliberately she affronts and WOUNDS
him.. The one link between them Is tneir
common love for Majendie's invalid sister,
a woman gifted as the sick sometimes are
with a power of understanding ana cnar1ty
beyond their healthier fellows.
So it goes on for three years before a
dim realization Of her heartlessness, and
fine knowledge borne in upon her OF her
husbands inherent decency and NOBILITY OF
soul. cause a temporary repentance But
their happiness is short-lived. A hid is,
horn to them, but their estrangement
wholly. through the -wffe's damnapie mis-
conception Of her spiritual duty, grows
wider. The best friend her husband has
and whom his sister loves and who loves
her. she sends from the house, denying the
moor Invalid the one great solace of her
diving months, simply because she has
found that he, like her husband, has a past
with a woman and a scandal In 1t.
Thus. aloof on her spiritual pedestal.
she drives her husband from her
heart, from all companionship and com
munion with her, excepting such as the
cold prophecies demand. A less true ana
faithful man than Majendie could NOT nave
endured 1t. But he is represented with the
patience of a Job. Perhaps to the ordinary
roadar he will seem altogether too patient
LIN ber six years of this sort OF life
90 yelentlessly pictured by Miss Sinclair
would drive most husbands to worse than
the sin that Majendie finally was driven to.
Intensely human and affectionate, his
charity and chivalry again prove his I'M
doing Denied at home. he finds love and
comnassion elsewhere. A woman whom,
for the sake of his friend, he has helped
ont of the gutter. gives him herself in re-
turn but it is only after long resisting
tbas ba Yields.
AFTER this has been going on for three
x,aars the wife discovers the. secret of
Mo ierdie,s frequent absences. fOn one Of
them which he had determined should be
+ho. last their child dies with a yearning
!. ses - Satber on her Inns. and, for the
CRY y ~, -na.eaaa +,,on the wife ar
denial or ms presence .nelb .1e AZ e.
cuses her husband OF pelhg responsipie ioi
the child's death. .
That comes pretty near being the end OF
fever and paralysis. Near to death, II Is
the consciousness that she mas proushe
him there that finally opens the eyes o!
his wife to her long outlines. hs hau
...zfo4~d ~ re hia rna Ili1 pp vows. DQl she