The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-09

ing room of the nation" and lies en- trely amid the diplomatic circles, whose titles, costumes, manner and accent are deftly drawn upon for color and va rfets.
 The story is humanely propelled by three persons. chiefly. first. Isabel, main tained in the atmosphere of romance from the outset: then Campbell chief of the secret service IS death crowd) and of great importance really is CampbelPs fight-hand man, named Grimm, very lm- passive, but very deep, delightfully."- non chalant but whose commissions to find missing gold or missing men or to prevent a worldwide War do not arouse from out ward listlessness and whose method to begin work on case is to place his perfectly shod' feet on his desk sit thinking for an hour. But really, with Grimmie. old boy. his pretty lady-like feet the desk while he thinks for an hour" lawful strain, thatD the plot does not lag. Jack, beg pardon, Jacques, won't let them lag for a moment He is in the business 10 keep them from tagging.
 Here is a scene for instance, that pre- termits the going asleep: At one moment the Italian minister receives the mys- terious crested card of Isabel while the minister is at dinner. From that time on until the scene in which the interna- tional council sits masked and Grimm threatens posed compact is not destroyed, on to the final situation in which Grimm-very to the grim and gloom he is in this sit uation-forces himself in IsabeTs home and causes the death of her brother. Grimm was awfully intense. The pres enee of the mysterious girl who was ln- exp1icably concerned in all the affairs, the repeated encounters between herself and Grimm, thread many of the situa- tions together Tn a first-class chain or mystery.
 If one cares for a story of this kind, one that will keep you on and go Whle reading, run you around the room, nkely to make you climb a tree, then Elusive Isabel by Jack (beg pardon Jacques) Futrelle, will undoubtedly please.
 .The Burnt Offering" by Edith Nicoll FL
 lison. (Broadway Publishing Co.)
 A young doctor in Virginia fell desper- ately in love with girl near his hamlet who-not the hamlet but the young girl didn't have much sense. When you come to think of it, very few people have
 The young doctor became engaged to marry the pretty young girl, but he felt that before he married that 1t would DC best for his profession. etc. that he take a trip to the arid regions of the west for a short study of tuberculosis; there was so much tuberculosis in his section
  to find some new serum, remedy, treat ment, etc.
 The doctor gives most awful pie ture of the west he visited. This reviewer visited practically all the sections Of the west inhabited by the consumptives, and never did he see such scenes or conditions as are pictured in "The Burnt Offering.
 But that is neither here nor there. The young doctor, Michael Wilmer, when he returned from inspecting far countries, when he should have been at home mar rying the girl he was engaged to, he found his fiancee had contracted tuoerco- losis while he was away.
 What was Winner to do under the cir cumstances is the only possible excuse for the book What he foolishly mouthed about his duty to society, etc, will Ill any sane man or woman with anger that such a chap as Wilmer was ever permit ted to live.
 He evidently knew as much about the advanced thought and practice on tuber- culosis as a jack rabbit, and wherever he received the impressions he prints of the west are as silly to discuss as those on tuberculosis.
 '''The Burnt Offering isn't much. That is. if you happen to know the facts about which the author guessed lot, evi- dently.