New-York tribune., 1909-02-13
NEW NOVELS.
Books by Harold BindloSs, Grace
LtckfeId and Others.

LONG ODDS. BY Harold BindlOss, 12mo' pp- 4o1-
Small, Maynard & Co =
THE SUPREME. GIFT. BY Grace Dsnto I LtehTaeld' { Te
MIRAGE. Bv T. Temple Thurston limo. pp. S2o
Dodd. Mead & Co
Darkest Africa is the scene Of :'Lons odds"
the latest story from the facile pen OF MI
BindIoss The general standard OF West Coast
morality is not much higher than that prevailing
in East OF suez countries. Cruelty, greed lust
treachery take the place of the Ten Command
ments When Robert Ormsgiu a true born
Englishman, carries conscience and a code OK
honor with him into the interior, instead OF IeaV
ing them behind, as the custom is, It'll wanted
he makes a lot of trouble for himself Petty
tyrants OF the up-rver fever districts respecters
OF no power under heaven, growing fat on cor
ruption and bribery, array themselves against
him. It is incredible to them that loyalty TO
dead benefactor can be what actuates him in
the rescue of slave girl or the defence of starv-
ing coolies. The natives see in Ormsgih no
Caribaldi. but a white devil who has come to
make their burden heavier:-is not that what all
white men come for? Even at home his qlix-
otic exploits Tnisconstrued- His once &C.
voted sweetheart looks at him askance' and
when he suddenly turns up at the Canary
Island carayanserai, where she is winterlng,
she frankly tells him that he has grown queer.
and requests that before another day passes, he
visit a tailor 'This duck-clad man with the
lined face and steady eyes was clearly not OF
their world, which was, in the case OF most OF
them. an essentially frivolous one" If Ada and
her friends are i'll at ease with Ornsgil he is
equally so with them. Fortunately, there are a
few who understand and sympathize-nay, there
is one lovely raven-haired, ivory -shouldered
Portuguese damsel who-but why reveal
Benicia's part in the drama? II is picturesque
and Il is wholly satisfying. She knows the game
that IS being played, and she has an almost un-
canny faculty for directing the moves, even
from behind the scenes. With Benicia FOR TO-
nance. a dark-souled Don Herrero for villany
and the west Coast for Grim Realities" Mr..
Bindloss's story is sure to keep the reader read
ing till the last page is turned.
Joan KeIden. the heroine of '"The Supreme
Gift is called upon TO undergo an ordeal which
might well cause the stoutest heart TO quail.
First wealth must be renounced and then the
claims Of love, foh the sake of the larger love
that reaches beyond the individual and gives
itself to the poor and needy. Little Joan is
equal to the test. A more unselfish heroine 1t
would be hard 10 imagine. Her every impulse
seems only for the happiness of others And
this Ioveliness Of soul finds its outward counter
part in form and feature graceful and ethereal
enough to have stepped from Burne-Jones's
Golden Stair
She was dressed In en- adorable gown OF cloudy
paused under the great arch. its imposing round
evf sr SeddS eod har s o
beauty of color, stood up around IT in rebelious,
entirely Of light as If her body were but trans
parency for soul composed only OF love and Joy;
with her.
This is Joan's entrance upon the scene. She
is preparing to delight Mrs. Dutros guests with
her music little dreaming-though 1t is known
to all the others-that within the last hour a
terrible shadow has fallen athwart her life.
First she is bewildered by the unspoken but
manifest sympathy that is directed TO her. then
hurt; finally che forces hint Of the truth from
the reluctant lips of her hostess; and with that
her testing by fire has begun The author loves
her heroine whole heartedly, and though TO the
very end she heaps fuel to the fame with un-
abated zeal, it is only that little Joan's purity
and unselishness may the more rebound Even
so complete a representative. of the jeWnesSe
doree as Hallam. who processes a positive aver
sion to Joans precious poor and disclaims any
to virtue, is touched at last by her
long suffering gentleness, and releases her from
a promise that has sapped her life
To the exhausted traveller in the desert ap-
pears the deceptive mirage that dazzling
tempting semblance of the phantom oasis"
Make OF this a symbol of human life and you
have the theme OF z. Temple Thurstons latest
story. The hero is an elderly gentle hammered
proud spirited French nobleman the Vicomte
du Guesclin. who. because his fortune has been
eaten up and life in the grand old way rendered
impossible has emigrated to England and taken
up his abode in a tiny cottage. attended only by
one faithful man servant, Courtot. Cultivating
b1rSb
tique manner interchanging sedate visits with
neighbors life goes very TRANQUILITY with NJ le
vicomte in his countryside retreat until, one
day. soft girlish voice, much like a voice that
had been very dear to him in other years. fall
tiers out a pretty compliment in his native
tongue, and then-the mirage has suddenly
arisen before his eyes. He thinks he is still
young He begins to believe in the possibility
OF certain things coming to pass which common
sense knows cannot occur. But for a time the
Illusion carries all the evidences of a reality
There is about the little story a pathos and
quiet charm which are uncommon The old
vicomte, dreamy impractical. sacrificing all that
is ieft-his precious family relics-rather than
cause pain to another. belongs 10 a race of gen
tie heroes that gentle readers have long de-
lighted to honor. It seems a pity that in a
story of which Frenchman is the hero-espe-
ciaIIy so ultra-fastidous Frenchman as the
Vicomte du Guesclin-scarcely sentence of
French should have been correctly set up Here
is the little speech Of Rozanne's that marks
new epoch IN the old mans life: "Je dit que je
suis tres enchante de vous voir." 'TwouId not
be inappropriate TO have replied to this with the
ejaculation that appears few pages later, "Ah.
mon Dieuxi"
THE ACCESSIBLE BOOK.
From The Manchester Guardian
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