New-York tribune., 1907-11-02
Ne1C Fiction by Hrs. Burnett, the
Castles and Others.

in the Life of Viscount Rockhurst Friend OF
stable Of His Majesty's Tower of London. Re
trated- l6mo' PIP tx. SS3. The Macmillan Com
MARGARET. BY II. Rider Haggard. Illustrated
Emo, pp. s55, Longmans. Green & Co
THE FOLK AFIELD. BY Eden Phulpotts l2mo
PIP. vii 862 G. p. Putnams Sons.
In her new story Of two international mar
rages Mrs. Burnett follows an ingenious
method. BY carrying the action over period
Of some ten or twelve years she contrives to
show the reader both sides Of the medal. Little
RosaIe Vanderpoe the daughter of an Ameri-
can multi-miionaire. with whose fortunes the
author is first concerned. marries her titled
Englishman at a period of our social history
which Il would seem, enjoyed very little light
on the philosophy Of such alliances. The brides
parents take Sir Nigel Anstruther at his own
valuation, with the result that poor Rosalie
wakes up in a gloomy English country house TO
find that she is tied TO a sordid brute. Being
trnid creature she acquiesces in her evil des-
tiny making no really determined effort to ap-
prise the family at home of her wellnigh tragic
situation. Here Mrs Burnett makes a heavy
demand upon her readers credulity. She asks
him To believe that a mature American and his
wife would give their daughter to a foreign
husband and then. for more than decade. not
simply allow themselves TO be kept at a dis
their child's condition. For the purposes of the
story. however. the parental desertion Of Rosa
lie could not we'll have been avoided. 1t was
necessary that free field should be reserved
for the astonishing activities OF Rosale's young
sister Betty. This daughter of the house OF
TanderpoeI is as strong her sister IS weak.
Even in her childhood she has suspected Sir
Nigel and by the time she grows up she has
trained herself TO swoop down upon his homo
and there play the part of an avenger On her
1ortrait Mrs Burnett lavishes all her pains
Decidedly, if We are to accept her view Of the
matter. the shuttle that moves between America
and England moves swiftly and produces many
patterns Betty too. marries titled English
man hut she has better luck than Rosalie be-
cause she is launched upon her enterprise with
ewes wide open.
When this resolute young woman comes to
the rescue Of her beloved sister she is armed at
all points. If she elects TO be the Lady Bounti-
ful Of the village she elects also 10 go about
the business with tact well as feeling. II
she has - enter many combat with Sir Nigel
Anstruther she is at least careful 70 use the
vveapons Of a practised fencer The moment
she appears upon the scene the reader feels in
his bones that she will, in the long run, set
everything straight. But her difficulties are i'm
mense, and the manner of her triumph excites
the Mveliest speculation. Mrs. Burnett has never
written a story framed better than this one is
70 hold the attention from beginning 10 end
II has not, we fear. any very serious relation
10 life. It is a purely melodramatic vein that
IS here exploited. and the effects secured, while
well calculated TO enchan the sentimental
schoolgirl are hardly Of a nature to impress the
thoughtful reader But the novelist who can
wake curiosity and keep it awake, who can I'LL
even the dispassionate critic with interest as
81 OT741o o@h har r,yOt haz-a
Of narrative which, by itself, commands re-
spect. The reader may find fault. If he pleases.
He may protest that that swift movement Of
the shuttle 10 which we have referred is alto
gether too swift. He may be sadly bored by
the slangy talk OF one Of the characters in the
book, q young commercial traveller whose por-
trait is drawn with appalling patronage. But
nothing can keep him from wanting TO know
how the thing out" Though THE
Shuttle IS scarcely a work of art IT is an un-
commonly readable tale.
Books Of deliberately episodical fiction have
threatened, Of late, to fall into disrepute. The
idea Of making some picturesque character the
central figure in one short story after another,
until book has been filed. has tempted scores
of the romancers Of the day, and many OF them
have put forth merely mechanical work. II IS
doubly pleasant. therefore, to welcome a volume
stories Of courtier Of King Charles Second.
which are here gathered together. the Castles
are at their best. raviving all the fragrant
charm Of those looks. like The Pride of Jen-
nico," in which they first showed an instinct,
amounting to genius, for sunny romance. Ny
Lord Rockhurst. when make his acquaint-
ance in the opening narrative. is doing his best
70 tighten the melancholy of his exiled King.
On a misty night in Bruges they find themselves
without food or money, and Rockhurst at last
fares forth In search OF the one or the other,
knowing not what his fortune may be. but
solved upon success. He wins it through the
adroitness and gallantry with which he takes
advantage of a chance encounter. and returns
10 drink TO his Kings happy restoration. The
little tale is exquisitely told. Especially notice
able is the art with which the authors have
sketched in their background. giving to their
plot the right proportions, and then enveloping
the whole in a perfect atmosphere. There is no
mistaking Bruges as they paint it. Brilliant
too is their work in all that concerns the por-
traiture Of Rockhurst or Of the King. The
characters of both are given vitality that is
the more remarkable when the lightness of the
fictitious fabric is considered. The sparkling
touch of the water colorist is in these pictures,
vet they have also something of the depth and
richness of paintings in oil Partly this is due
70 the sincerity OF emotion with which the work
has been done.
II is varied work In the first story, THE
Kings Comrade," Rockhurst is all ingenuity
and daring. In the second, "FaTant Chace'
he is a naughty and melancholy figure turned
to a mood of tenderness in the service OF a
woman In peril Then. in "The Enigma of the
Loc1et," we see him at once cynical and gentle
at the court of his re-established master. and
ied ez-en