New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-02

lO"l she VIII ne napier than in her mothers
dubious company. AS matter Of fact. she jumps
from the frying pan into the fire. Her father
turns out to be a Thoroughbred scamp. whose
home is the scene of swindlins operations that
soon threaten TO reach even uglier phases than
those by which Sylvia is first alarmed. Matters
go from bad to worse. and she is on the point Of
heeing to her fellow mountain climber when she
remembers moral lesson he had given her. and
resolves to stay and struggle with the evil
powers intrenched within her doors The con-
hict Is long and dreary. but Mr.. Mason renders
It, to the reader extremely interesting We
watch with evergrowng curiosity the duel be-
tween Sylvia and CARAT Skinner. for the soul
of Wallie Hine. and while that soul seems
rather contemplate quantity for all the pOther
that is raised about it. gladly admit that some
thing had to be done to keep its possessor from
disputing the centre of the stage with the hero
Curiosity is not satisfied, either until Mr.. Mason
has wound up the struggle He knows we'll how
to keep the reader in a state Of suspense. In one
respect, however he shows less than his ac-
customed skill. At the end Of the book CARAT
Skinner has defence to offer. 1t Is so tenuous
as to seem almost foolish and certainly for the
purposes of the plot 1t is fatty inadequate.
Neither as a student of character nor as
weaver Of dramatic webs does the author show,
at this point. the resource which he shows in
ner at all, than the feeble one which he pre-
sents. Fortunately. the explanatory episode
comes too late to spoil the readers fun.
In one of Mrs. Craige's novels there is a
droll description of type of resignation. This
person looked. are told. like ST. Laurence.
lying his gridiron and saying to his tor
mentors Turn me; this side is done" That
sufferer would have had fellow feeling for the
heroine of The Issue" She is about as sorely
tried a mortal as we have ever met In a novel.
The daughter Of an old skipper on the Thames.
Susie Sutcliffe is separated from her father. who
loves her. for the greater part Of the time. Her
stepmother is an appalling shrew. For some
reason or other this woman is not conspicuously
named in the table of Dramatis Persona. pre-
fixed to the book. She ought to be placed we'll
in the foreground, for it is her fendish malice
that drives the heroine into an agonizing situa-
ton. This situation. may note, is brought
about at early stage of the narrative and
thenceforth Mr.. Noble keeps Susie the rack.
She is beloved by two men, both Thames skip
pers. One of them is a violent animal who
thinks that he lies under a ban. or. he would
call 1t, "the Curse of the Cat" a legendary
Madison spoken Of with bated breath by the
mariners who use the great English river. This
Jim Saunderson is evil brute in his dark
moods. and the tale goes on he seems bent
upon making his love for Susie a positive tort
ure to the poor girl. Deeper and deeper do
the clouds become. until finally the story is
whelmed in pain and woe. and the reader wishes
that Mr.. Noble would make haste with his
grewsome task.
That the reader perseveres is a testimony TO
this novelIsts ability. He has. in fact. some
thing like a gift. as when he published
The Edge of Circumstance not so very long
ago He is one OF those who care more for
truth than for beauty. and in his earlier book
he set forth the truth with an intensity that
made it impressive. He. too. revealed in that
work the narrative faculty to which We have al
luded in speaking of Mr.. Mason. He has this
faculty still, but In The Issue he seems to
use It with more self-consciousness. to sacri-
fee the truth Of life to a literary conception
His diction smells of the lamp. and so. for that
matter, does the whole fabric. We assume at
the beginning that he is going to give us pict-
ure OF human beings on the Thames. drawing
their livelihood from the river and being mould
cd as to all the details of their destinies, by it's
might. Presently. however the figures get out
of drawing, falsties creep into the perspective
and the pictorial composition is dslocated.
sense OF life disinterestedly observed gives place
to sense Of artihce, striving to work out a
given problem. Long before reach the ell
max we have ceased to believe I'm the characters
and in the sequence of events described, and
look with interest only for the solution OF what
continues to be, in it's way, beguiling problem.
Does Saunderson yield TO the Curse? Does
Susie come safely into port? We want to know
these things because. as we have said. Mr. Noble
has the knack of sustaining our Inquisitiyeness.
But he cannot make sympathize with his
people feel anything save resentment where
their long drawn out narrowing is concerned