The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-10-27

,,,nsa nns rsoilins lies in his nasterly Sandiinr of his plot. Of pure literary sxcslience he had little. sus avsr ne nave ps the faculty of constructing an intricats' and fascinating plot and telling ms stnrv m a manner that keeps the rean- prs interest fast to the end me 1n bis day is due to the fact that one new if ie able to guess Just how the story, la s'cominx out" until the last para graph of the last chapter orarn as fsaS s,anr. he Keeps his readers guessing ana [ story of his once begun Is hard 70 law aside without finishing 1t. -. .,,cb ae bMs ws ahis p@lace.land @ not inconsid- serabIe one--amonE the writers or Engy fish fiction. Ills stories are models ol construction. There are no loose enas a q there are in Dickens. and no taxing the reader into his confidence as 70 what the next chapter Is to bring forth. aa there is in Thaokeray. Yet Collins possesssd scarcely sr|, of tbscsi0n tose autSors @
 ssT1ie Moonstone" is probably the pest known, of the works of Wilkie Coillns and affords an excellent example or nis methods.
 Tn Northern India. in the holy city of Gomnauth, the great yellow dfamond known as the Moonstone glowed TOT long in the forehead of the Moon-t5oa ---he of the four arms. the beloved of / vtshnn tha Preserver. Then somnauth was destroyed and its shrines wrecked when the Mahometar conquerors broke into India, and many were the changes of ownership through which the dia- 1aand passed after it had been torn from the forehead of the god in the troubfous times of she internecine In-
 But through all time. whatever ruler possessed 1t, 1t was watched over by three Brahmins of high caste, accord- inQ to the will of vishnu. who decreed in a vision to the faithful that 1t should . be so tended until the end of the gen- erations of smen. Wherever went the Moonstone. there also went the three Brahmins, serving in some disguise. in some capacity. so as to be near 1t. when one of the three became old and died another took his place. and so the line was continued down to the time when Sultan Tippoo reigned in Seripg- apatam and the Englishmen from be- yond the Black Water besieged hs city. of Seringapatam the jewel came into the possession of John Herncastle, who was believed to have killed at least one of the Brahim watchers in obtaining possession of 1t.
 It was an Indian superstition that VWEBG8GA0h brought bad luck, and would continue to do so until 1t was restored to the forehead of the Moon -God. The life Of John Herncastle after he obtained the gem seemed to bear out this supersti- ton. Nothing prospered with him af- ter the fall of Seringapatam. Dark clouds covered his reputation. When finally he sold out of the army and res turned to England. men would not re- ceive him in their clubs nor women in their drawing rooms
 John Herncastie died with the clouds still covering him. In his will he left the evil Moonstone as a legacy to his niece. Rachel. Lady Verinder's daughter, to be delivered to the girl on her eighteenth birthday.
 The appointed time arrived when the fair Rachel was to have her historic gera--and possibly choose husband also. Lady verinder thought girls time they were IS, especially when e girl had two such suftors as Franklin Blake and Godfrey Abelwhite, both cousins and both well-to-do men of good character.
 It was Franklin Blake who. by order of his father, John Herncastle's execu- tor, carried the Moonstone down 70 Lady Verinder's country place where the birthday festivities Were to take place. As Franklin took the gem from the bankers where it had been depos- ited, he noticed that he was closely watched by a dark. swarthy man of . decidedly Oriental appearance.
 All the stories he had heard about the Moonstone came struggling back to his mind; and he had to confess that he felt trffie uneasy. But what had such old stories of war and idols In the Indian mountains to do with a pretty girl in Yorkshire in the nine- teenth centwry. or the sack of Seringa- patam with swaIlow-taii coats and a waved vishnu and the four-armed Moon-Gods aside and bought a railway ticket. Railways and Moon Gods are incompatible.
 When the young man arrived at his aunts place he found that Lady ve- rinder and Rachel had gone out driv- ing, not looking for his arrival until later in the day. To the old house. 5 steward, Gabriel Betteredge, who had known Mister Franklin" from boy- hood and was devoted to him. he told the story of the Moonstone and an- nounced his present mission. Gabriel told him that that morning three In- dian juggiers had been seen lettering about the neighborhood.
 It was agreed at opee between them that the safest thing to do with the diamond was to take 1t to the neigh boring town of Frisinghall and deposit 1t with the banker there. Mounting a horse from the stables, Blake imne- diateiy put the resolve Into execution and was back at thes house In time to welcome his aunt and Rachel when they returned from their drive.
 Rachel wassa beauty, with a will of her own and just dash of the Hern- castle temper. which was known to be an jnnperious one. But she was unaf- fectedly glad to see her cousin, though Franklin had lead an aimless, wan- dertng life while Godfrey, Rachel's other cousin suitor. was very tall and very serious, He presided at meet tngs at Exeter Hall and was chair man of the boards of many philan- thropic societies. -t
 In few days the house party at Lady verinder's began to assemble. From London arrived Godfrey Abel white, sleek and unctHous. and other relatives, and. shortly before the birthday, there arrived from London also Mr. BrufR. the family solicitor.
 The Indians were reported to be lin- gering still about F'rizinghalL While not naturally superstitious, Lady Ver- Inder was perplexed as to how she should look upon the legacy of the Moonstone to her daughter. Either her brother had endeavored in his will to return good for evil and with the idea If wreaking a posthumous revenge for the way he had been cut by his rela- lives.
 However, something of more import nnce even than the Moonstone filled the ,.,fnd nF tha ynunn man whn had