The San Francisco call., 1909-03-14
Miss FaIIowfeId's Fortune

Bv Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler, author OF Con
cernfne Isabel Carnabr- Published by
Dodd Mead & Co., New York. Price SI.5o.
Ellen ThorneycrOft Fowler apparent
Iy reached her limit in "Concerning
Isabel Carnaby" for there is no visible
growth or Improvement in her present
novel, Miss Fallowfeld's Fortune The
story in brief follows:
Twenty-Five years before the story
opens Miss Charlotte Fallowdeld has
inherited a large fortune, but it has not
brought the expected happiness for she
has lost her lover and has lived a lonely
life Her sister dying, leaves her child,
Dagmar SilVerthorne, to Miss Fallow-
field TO be brought up by her. In mid
die life Miss Fallowfield marries Luke
Forester a widower with a grown son,
Claude, and they sail for Australia on
their honeymoon. In few weeks word
comes that the ship Euroclydon, on
which they have sailed, IS wrecked. and
both are supposed to have perished- The
disposition Of the property is the theme
OF the rest OF the work. If the wife
perished first the fortune goes 10 the
husbands son, according TO English
law, but If she survived him II reverts
10 Dagmar, the niece The working
out OF that question is shllfully han
died, but It drags al times. being a little
too serious. Despite that it holds the
interest, for Claude and Dagmar win
much sympathy by their deIneanor dur
inE the trying times they pass through.
The little village of Dinglewood, sit
usted 'on the great high road that runs
from London 10 Chester straight
through the heart OF the 8fidlands" is
the scene Of the story. The people OF
the rural district are mostly Of the
Church Of England, and rabidly bitter
against Roman Catholicism. There are
weekly Dorcas meetings that are de-
scribcd in Miss foWler's very best vein
We are introduced to some characters
which will live in the memory-charac-
tiers which may be bit overdrawn. but
which are irresistible. Among them
are the spicy Mrs. Peppercorn. the ex-
citable Mrs. skinner. the idealistic Miss
Tovey, the warlike Mrs. Sprott with
the poor. timid husband; the sad Mrs.
Marvcr and the oyerbearing Mrs. IIig-
ginson. Mrs. Sprott is described per-
fectly in a few words: she is always de-
claring that she viii fling down the
gauntlet and make a stand" Miss Fow-
Ter says here:
This warlikc attitude was. however,
less impressive in the case OF Mrs.
Sprott than it would have been in that
Of more peaceable spirit as her
gauntlet was so frequently being flung
down that the ground, so to speak, had
there that her gauntlet was usually
kept"
one remembers that some of the
critics said Of Concerning Isabel Car
naby" that ST was too fun Of epigrams
and that for that reason IL was excit-
ingly tircsome TO read. This book has
much OF the same sort Of writing, but IL
is good writing. One quotation will
suffice;
1T is just possible that there may
be good and excellent women who have
no natural love for children, but they
are Of the same genus as the dodo and
the roc and the sea serpent, and 1t is
extremely doubtful il their existence is
anything but legendary The women
who dislike children may upon the sur
face appear agreeable and amiable
creatures. but as rule they are whited
> sepulchers, concealing some secret and
idden rottenness within
Tho point deserving special praise is
tho cleanliness Of the book Snch dread
ful things have come ont OF England
during the last year or so that it is a
relief Co md that all the English au-