New-York tribune., 1907-01-12
DARK SECRETS.
Three Nez0 Volumes of Melodramatic
Fiction.

Fiction.
Bennett. I2mo PIP. vi. 1913. F. NJ Buckles & Co.
THE 2, PRIvATEERs, BY H; B. Marriott Watson.
& CO. --''O' pp 90 DO''''7''Y' f'se
THE CHIEF LEGATEE. By, Anna Katharine
Green. Illustrated in colors by Frank T. Mer-
rilL l2mo, PIP Sls. John Wanamaker.
Mr.. Bennett has in Hugo" essayed the ex-
cessively difficult task of repeating earlier
success. This hook IS meant to stand beside
THE Grand Babylon Hotel" which is to say
that 1t is another mixture of farce and tragedy,
with farce very much in the ascendant. Upon
this occasion upon the other, Mr.. Bennett
seems to have resolved to give himself pro-
digious lark, piling eccentricity upon eccentric
fly. and enveoping the whole fabric in at
mosphere of mystery. The interesting thing is
that he almost If not quite revlves the excite
ment OF THE Grand Babylon Hotel" and even
IF the second book is not altogether as good as
the first. 1t is good enough to keep the reader
contented. The man who gives the tale its title
is the proprietor of an immense shop in London
a shop so superbly managed that one is willing
to credit Hugo with genius. He lives In luxu-
rious quarters just underneath the dome which
crowns his sublime property, and there he iii
rects his myrmidons with the sagacity of a
Napoleon. In the midst OF his tremendous busi-
ness transactions he suddenly finds time to fall
in love, and thenceforth the running of the
great machine which coins him a fortune every
day is imperilled by the results of his infat-
uation. Something OF this sort might happen
to any shopkeeper. but Hugo standing alone
has adventures beftting his sngularity Mr.
Bennett pushes his incidents beyond the verge
of Enthusiastically and well into the region of the
fatty incredible. But he is a knowing ro-
mancer He is never at loss when it is neces-
sary to put plausible face upon grotesque cir
cumstances, and he carries his fantasia off In
such high spirits that while our creduIity NAV
now and then be strained the fun never sIackens.
Hugo is a book to relax the jowI of the
stoniest hearted philosopher.
Mr.. Marriott Watson, like Mr. Bennett. has the
gift OF securing the attention of his reader and
keeping 1t throughout fairly long narrative.
II you begin The Privateers' you are unwilling
TO put the book down until you have got at the
dark secret which, as in Hugo" hovers through
chapter after chapter just beyond your reach.
We cannot, however, compliment Mr. Watson
upon having all of the technical proficiency
which is needed for the development of tr~ kind
OF motive he has exploited in this book \ ro-
mantically minded young man, idIing on the
English coast falls In with a beautiful girl and
| a little later meets the man she Is engaged to
marry. Presently a fourth person comes upon
the scene, a determined American at odds with
the potential bridegroom over q business deal
The onlooker has no idea OF entangling himself
in the affairs Of the others, but fate wills that.
with startling suddenness. he should take part
in an amazing adventure. The girl is abducted
by one Of the men and taken Oft in his yacht;
the two remaining squires start In pursuit and
thenceforth the story passes with extreme rapid
ity from one crisis TO another. It IS in this part
OF his work that the author shows something
less than the requisite ability. AIelodrama in
fiction is all very well. and, Hugo shows. it
can be made source OF effects generally II not
always persuasive. but I'm this matter d sense Of
discrimination is important. Nh Marriott-Wat-
son, once started apparently does not know
when 10 stop. No balance is struck in the con-
( struction OF The Prvateors" The book is
Crammed with more or less dramatic episodes,
! which not introduced as though the author
had a well ordered scheme III his mind. bur as
though he knew there were some four hundred
pages to fill. and resolved to fill them with
as many situations as he could possibly invent.
Yhe result, though exhilaratlng. leaves in the
Ioug run an impression Of triviahty and even Of
| fustiau.
Mrs. Rohfs gives us mystery and melodrama
with a vengeance In The Chiei Legatee." There
is a wedding in the first chapter but scarcely
has the heroine been made a bride before she
y
leaves her husband and does this in so strange
a fashion that the poor man pretty nearly COL
lapses. He gets upon her trail only 10 find II
harder to understand why she has left him, and
az he perseveres in his search he Is plunged
into ever deepening bewilderment. Just as he
is on the point OF solving his problem matters
go from bad to worse. \ woman appears VINO
NAV be his wife. or her twin sister or some one
else waterfall sounds upon the night! Has
Mrs Ransom drowned herself, or is she at her
husbands side I'm the character Of another
woman? There is a fortune at stake, and there
s a sinister gentleman whose designs upon II
lead him TO intrude in the most incomprehenslole
manner upon the distracted husband. Why are
these things thus? Looming upon the horizon
there is a malign force obscurely designated as
The Cause and so balefuI IS THIS element IN the
story that even when the curtain is rung down
we are left I'm ignorance OF its true character.
There is only one way in which to enjoy this
tissue of surprises-the reader must abdicate
as a critical commentator and must follow with
childlike confidence wherever the author leads
II the reader chooses to do this he is at least
sure of an hours diversion.
BOOKS And AUTHORS.