New-York tribune., 1908-01-19
A MYSTERY SOLVED.
"Edain brood" Worked Ont bg
Comy7ls Carr.

grave. 8Ir. Comyns Carr in undertaking to
,nravel il has assumed that Dickens's powers of
invention were as resourceful at the close of
his life as at any previous period and that he
meant what he said when he described the plot
as new and incommunicable.' a dream muir
der rehearsed in an opium trance and subse-
quently confessed under disordered conviction
that II had actually been committed answers
many of the requirements Of the unfinished
novel: and the detailed description of the opium
den at the opening of the book points to it
That there murder in the novelist's mind
was indirectly indicated when his sister-in-lav
remarked, 4 hope you do intend kill
Edwin brood" and he replied. Il am not writing
the death. but the mystery Of Edwin brood
Naturally the art Of the storyteer required
suggestions Of murder for misleading the read
er and these were supplied when Jasper talked
with the stone mason in the cathedral vaults
about the destructive action Of quicklime and
egged on a quarrel between the young men so
that suspicion should fall upon Neville Land
less.
sequel which would battle the ingenuity
was murder in intention. carried out in imag
ination under the influence of opium and actu-
ally confessed under conviction that he had done
il This would have been a startling surprise
with which TO round out the mystery of Edwin
Drood's disappearance. and there would have
been ample justification for it in the abnormal
experiences Of opium eaters described by De
Quincy and other writers. My. Carr has
adopted this theory in his drama, produced at
His Majesty's Theatre, and has not only sue
ceeded in const -ucting a play as weird and
powerful as THE Bells" but has also shown
how mastery Dickens's last story would have
been in plot and dramatic interest if it had
been completed II is a better solution than an
actual murder, with the method Of committing II
the chief mystery.
This theory leaves out of account mysterious
parsonage who appeared in disguise IN the last
CHAPTERS written by the novelist. This is Datch-
cry the idle dog who lived upon his means
and turned up al the Crozier in Cioisterham
and was strangely inquisitive respecting the
cfoir7naster Mr. Andrew Lang has conjectured
that natcFery was brood whom Jasper had not
murdered: and Mr. J c. Walters has Identified
him with Helena Landless as the most likely
detective TO expose the murderer's guilt MI
Carr Tninimizes his importance by assuming that
he was Mr Grewgious's law clerk. Sazzard, and
leaves him out Of the play altogether Detective
work becomes superfuous when the more artis-
tic solution is adopted Of having Jasper confess
his guilt when he was innocent Of everything
except rnurderous intention and did not know it.
Mr. r = Proctor-s artificial hypothesis that
brood was rescued by the stone mason when
half strangied and buried in the cathedral vault
is discarded. an6 - also is the theory that
Helena I.andIass tracked the murderer to the
opium den and heard his confession
The cream murder. while unsupported by
I,is 1ans's hints 70 Forster merely requires
T,rood IS witness. and his disappearance is
.r~o,lnted 5or by the horror Of the revelation
that ms uncle was nadly in love with Rosa
rrdd and was bent upon getting rid of him;
ana when Neville I.andless has been acquitted
7.-,5 Jasper. implicated by circumstantial evi-
7r-.e has made his confession. the end Of the
mystery is easily brought about. brood reap
r.o--s 60 convince the dying choirmaster that It
rzs -ean a weird opium dream and to pair off
,,l.1r tlla charung Rosa Rudd. Close readers
,,r -s.e fragment Of the novel may raise the OBJ
5o~fj,r that the girl seemed to be more in love
with Lieutenant Tartar than with Brood but
air Carr gives her credit for womanly caprice
in changing her mind Besides. he leaves the
Lieutenant out of the play. along with the super
fluo-Is old buffer Dstchery.
III carr has supplied the most consistent and
reasonable explanation Of the plot Of the un-
finished story which has ever been offered and
he has carried it out in the play with the lit
erary skill of trained artist and with the
sympathetic spirit Of q Dickens worshipper- In
construction II is superior TO the French play
which Mr. Leopold Lewis translated for Irving
and which. when rewritten and improved as
great actors genius. The central idea is the
sarne-the murderer haunted with the spectre
Of renorse. Matthias Of the frenzied SOUL as
Mr. William Winter once described him in poetic
phrase and Jasper agonized by the blood guilt
ness of a crime which vivid opium real
ttv are alike tortured by conscience. Each has
20 face the world with an affectation Of cheer
fulness and is condemned to brood, terror
stricken. in secret over foul crime. Matthias in
his introspection is racked with spiritual tor
rnent Whenever he hears the supernatural ca
6ence of the bells Jasper has a mind disordered
ty opium yet conscience makes coward or
him fl his self-c COMMUNION.
While the two situations are analogous. the
environment is more picturesque and the con-
trasting effects of scene and character are more
dramatic in The Mystery Of Edwin brood" than
tn THE Bells" The new melodrama opens in
the opium den Of the London docks, which is
literally REPRODUCED in detail from Dickens's
pages and the scene IS shifted to the quiet clos-
ters of Rochester Cathedral The Dean, the
Deputy, Durdles the Crisparkles, Miss Twinkle
ton, Edwin brood, Rosa Budd. Neville Landless
and his sister. and Mr. Grewgious from the
a'beanstaIk country of Staple Inn. emerge from
the shadowy Dickens land Of imagination The
women are In early Victorian costumes and the
men have oid-fashioned mannerisms, but they
are all as plainly recognizable though they
had been met on the Esplanade under the walls
Of Rochester Castle. or in the peaceful nook
behind Holburn, where the sparrows twitter
among the smoky trees around lantern in
roof and a sundial on the walls. Among them
is the restless, hollow eyed choirmaster of
Cloisterharn: vet he is not one of them, for when
he is not raving in the dreaminess of opium he
IS tn that sinner world of self torment of which