New-York tribune., 1909-07-03

Chamberlain. Illustrated by Herman PfeifeT;
CONF Company, " -'''
THE RED MOUSE. A Mystery Romance by
William Hamilton Osborne. illustrated. IZIio'
PIP. 800. Dodd. Mead & Co.
Resourceful. indeed. are our writer's Of tales of
mystery. We cited one. not long ago. who con-
cealed the body of murdered man by setting
it up as scarecrow in cornfeld, for all men
70 see Considerably less bizarre but hardly less
ingenious is the expedient adopted by the author
of The Other Side of the Door in order TO
heighten her effect. A murder is committed in
this book one of those wild deeds characteristic
of San Francisco in the days of the Vigilance
Committed The victim is a keeper Of a gam
bling house and the man suspected Of the crime
is Young Mr. Johnny Montgomery, a handsome
lad fallen upon rather dissipated courses, but
still beloved by his fashionable friends. A sin
lister woman of Spanish origin is also involved
in the tragedy. If this were all there would
seem to be rothing especially novel about Miss
Cbanoberlain's romantic drama. But she chooses
to make her heroine an ingenue Of maidenly
sweetness 2 compact. The result IS a delight
fully quaint contrast The murder, the arrest
Of Johnny, MS trial. and the intervention Of the
Spanish siren, all go to make the shadowiest
kind OF a picture Against its darkness moves
the innocent and naive Ellie Fenwick, who holds
Johnny's fate in the hollow Of her hand, IS
the development of the murder case, and Incl
dentaIy without being even family aware Of
what she is doing, falls in love with a man
marked as a criminal and as the lover Of a bad
woman How in the world is this pretty lamb
kin to la saved from the wolves? What con-
ceivabIe solution of the mystery is to be found?
The rea der may trust Miss Chamberlain. She
handles the murder with admirable cleverness,
AMI is in fact, so beguiling that by the time
the story is ended are half inclined 10 re-
gard the deep darnnation of the gamblers taking
off with good humored plaCidity We can hardly
help ourselves, seeing that the heros miscon-
duct in the long run leads 10 some exemplary
developments of character. This is a pleasant
little story. for all that parts of it are more or
less "bluggy.'
When a man is married TO a beautiful woman
and has plenty of money at his disposal, when
everything in life seems well calculated to keep
him happy. and he chooses TO go to the dogs.
how Is he TO be put his feet again? Not even
the most eccentric of experimentalists in the
domain of morals would suggest that he take to
drink and amorous adventure, winding up in
gambling hell with a revolver in his hand and
his enemy glaring at him across the card table
But this is what happened to Mr.. ]. Lawrence
Challoner in The Red Mouse" and. what is
more his revolver goes off. The papers next
long afterward the indiscreet Challoner is laid
by the heels. Is he guilty or not guilty?
Twelve good men and true condemn him, and
when the case is carried TO a higher court his
conviction is affirmed. Yet the murder is the
making of Challoner, Obviously. the reader Of
Mr. Osborne's book has good puzzle upon
which to try his wits, but the author is not con-
tent with only one; he must put another before
us, and this he makes even more bewildering.
IN +,e
lawyer whose duty II is TO prosecute Challoner.
He is model Of all the virtues. but when Mrs.
Challoner seeks to bribe him he calmly accepts
the large she offers and even insists upon
her giving him the rest of her fortune In spite
OF this he retains sympathy, for know
that somehow the whole queer business is ulti-
mately going to be made plain Mr.. Osborne is
adroit in maintaining our suspense, ana while
his picture of political corruption and evil police
methods in a great city is rather crudely
painted this story is generally plausible and de-
cdedly amusing.