New-York tribune., 1908-04-11
Some Recent Interesting Studies of
Character.

Bazin. OF the French Academy. 12mo PIP. 248.
tn nd as Doubleday, Page & Co. iN'''0'
THE. LONELY no HOUSE Sc From the German OF
a5frated Ae6 by Charlotte Tis'er 2na 5
pp 2S6. Philadelphia: J. B, Lippncott Com
LOVES LOGIC AND OTHER STORIES. BY
Anthony Hope. l2mo. PIP S2l. The Mcclure
THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY. A Night
mare By G < Chesterton Rmo. pp. 2S.
Priest and Pagan is a story of conflict.
rather conventionally framos but possessing a
vitality which does not, as a rule, in fiction, go
u-ith convention. It is a story Of two men and
one woman and it is over that wonaans heart,
Of course. that the men fall out. The situation
is rs old the hills. = lover fancies himself
sure Of his romance. All unconscious of the
risk he is running, he makes friend acquainted
with the girl he expects TO marry. By all the
laws which preside over the making of novels
If is the most natural thing in the world for the
newcomer TO supplant the man in possession.
This is what happens in Mr.. Hopkins's novel.
and if this were all there would be little to COM
mend IN his book. But if his story. a story,
is not particularly original he has made it more
than ordinarily interesting by the studies of
character he has put into il. One Of his Young
men, the first To be introduced to the reader.
is g wealthy dilettante Who while abroad has
been reported drowned to his only surviving
kinsrlan al home That Individual an architect
and thoughtful man, has expressed his grief
in massive cenotaph- When George Berwyn
comes al last TO muse the steps CT this me-
mortal he wonders if he has not been a little
injudicious in keeping the secret Of his escape
from death. His silence had really been
matter OF whim. He decides to preserve it
for time al least. and under assumed name
10 achieve some sort of reputation before he
dscloses himself 10 his sorrowing uncle 1t is
al the moment Of this decision that he en-
counters the clergyman who is the other hero
OF the book. He also is bachelor and the two
keep house together. In a little while Cresson.
the cleric, presents his masquerading friend to
his hancee. Josephine Faile. and the inevitable
trouble ensues-
The reader looks on with some concern while
Josephine transfers her affections from Cres-
son 10 Berwyn, but, as has been indicated, the
sentimental aspect OF the tale is not the main
issue We are far more interested in the
manner in which the two rivals work out their
spiritual destnies. Berwyn has the soul of
pagan Lie is OF value TO him for what he
can get out OF it for his own enjoyment. Cres-
son, the priest, has himself the temperament
Of artist and knows well how TO SAVIOR the
things Of this world, but at bottom he is true TO
a noble instinct. Mr. Hopkins complicates his
story by cemplicating Cresson's problem. II
MS conflict were just the conflict between the
spirit and the flesh it would be effective enough.
But Cresson has not only his rival to dread: he
has TO struggle with the warning elements in
his own nature. We get therefore a suggestive
narrative. one with a genuinely human edge.
II it fails anywhere il is at those points where
The heroine becomes important. Though she is
yividly realized so far as she goes, she is a
creature of very slight substance and exctes
small sympathy. Her portrait as Mr.. Hopkins
draws il is hardly worthy TO hang beside that
u Cresson. which the author has spent his
hest efforts. The book, as q whole, though not
at all weighty, has q sincere quality and Is read
with quiet appreciation.
II is with considerable emotion that one turns
the pages Of The Nun" NJ Bazins brief novel
vas doubtless conceived as a tract Rejecting
upon the recent strained relations between
Church and State in France, he set out TO illus
trate the harm done by secular interference
with sacred things. He shows US group Of
nuns expelled by the government from their
peaceful home in Lyons obliged TO abandon the
good work Of instructing the children Of the
poor and thrown upon such slender resources
that all five members of the community are
made to suffer and one Of them meets a tragic
end. Put badly the tale would chiefly impress
by virtue of q certain dramatic significance
Treated as NJ Bazin has treated it, with a deli
cate if somewhat exaggerated sensibility, it
moves the reader as he might not, perhaps be
moved either by drama or by an argument
In other words. he passes from consideration or
2 religious and political Question" TO that OF
human fate and loses himself in the contempla-
tion Of a single destiny. He feels for the five
nuns, but above all for one Of them, for the
helpless Sister Pascaie, thrust from her safe
retreat into dreadful world. The personality
Of this frail child dominates the book. AS soon
rs she begins to think she recognizes her own
belpIessness against the brute power of mum
dane things and she turns TO the convent as to
the one certain source of protection. Her four
companions there know how 10 fight their
battles when they are expelled. She goes TO
unnappness like lamb led TO the slaughter
NJ Bazn is merciless and even excessively re-
alstic in the unfolding of her story. He spares
Sister Pascale nothing. Her experience IS so
horrible that the reader almost gasps. But
doubtless he knew what he was about in
novel obviously controversial; doubtless he felt
that if his point was worth making at all it was
worth pressing 10 the utmost; and in any case,
we must respond to the poignant appeal he has
made. One does not need TO take the clerical
Gde in the debate to which '"The Nun" is con-
ributon in order to be profoundly touched by
the character and experience Of his pathetic
little heroine.
What shall be the life of a man Of education,
n kind heart and of or less refined in
stincts when he comes out of the prison he has
richly earned by embezzlement of trust funds?
Mss Glasgow answers this question in THE
Ancient Law" a story which may not be alto
gether convincing but is entertaining, and some
times little more than that. We do not find
inrfy md f,ll berO 2 interesting q