The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-02-28

ments in London. but Constance re-
fuses to be detached and, In the end,
her obsttnacy proves too much for her
higher melted sister The two. with
their dogs. spend their remaining time
in Intellectual skirmishes with disobe-
dent servants and in enjoying such
neighborly intercourse as Bursley af-
fords.
Such is life. the author tells his
readers. stripped of it's Illusions and
identifying influences, and revealed IN
all It's sordid grimness and lttleness.
II may be so, but the relation In which
Its details are given is revolving. rath-
err than attractive. The period of the
story is that of the middle nineteenth
century, and Paris during the horrors
of the siege comes into play. But the
whole book is on too dead level
and nowhere rises above the plane of
ordinary every day thinking and act
ing. little play of emotion. light
ening of situations by the introduction
of humor, would render "The Wives
Tale" much more attractive from ev-
cry standpoint.
"Thc Living Mummy"
BY Ambrose Pratt. The Frederick A.
Stokes Company. of New York. $3.50.
Novels on Egypt are said to be the
fad of the day, the land of the Phara.
obs, with its Nile, its lotus flowers and
Its ruined temples having obsessed the
popular imagination. If Egypt is the
land of mystery as well as the Land OF
the lotus, more than little of its mys-
terry has been made use Of more than
the liveliest imagination can grasp, in
the book describing performances of
THE Living Mummy
This mummy Is supposed to be that
of Ptahmes priest of Amen, who lived
in the eighteenth dynasty and was
buried in temple located on the Hill
of Rakh, in the Libyan Desert Doc
! uments left behind him informed his
fellow Egyptians that after the space
of 1900 years his spirit would re-enter
his body and wreak vengeance on dis
turbers of his sarcophagus and riaers
of his cherished secrets. The Living
! Mummy undertakes TO tell how the
tomb of Ptahmes was invaded and how
his imprisoned spirit. being let loose
went stealthily about trying to stran-
gle those to whom it's malevolence was
directed. The scenes of the book trans
pire partly In the Libyan Desert and
partly in London, where the mummy
of Ptahmes is brought by an English
archeologist, the discoverer of the tomb
of tho priest of Amen. Sir Robert OF
tley.
Complications, involvments and
deaths galore render the action of
the book very brisk indeed. There is
proper villain, properly punished and
pair of lovers rendered correspond
ingly happy Perhaps it would be bet
ter to characterize this romance of
Ambrose Pratt as melodrama with
sensational tendencies than as sensa-
ton pure and simple.
"rhc Holy Mountain"
BY stephen Reynolds. John Lane.
the Bodley Head, New York. publisher.
$3.50
This is a fantastic satire on English
life in which mountain is supposed to
be moved from the slope of the Wilt
shire Downs, near the English market
town of Trowbury through the agency
of grocer's son. Alexander Trotman
and to make its appearance in London
blottng out populous district by
what is supposed to be volcanic up
heaval
The mountain is known by the un-
poetical name of Ramshorn Hill. The
young Englishman, Alexander Trotman,
who wills and effects the removal or
the mountain, does not possess an cX-
traordinary personality or force. He
is below rather than above ordinary
standards. a weakling physically and
mentally.
The effect of the removal of the
mountain on the character of young
Trotman and on the people of the COM
munity in which he lives. the manner
in which the miracle is viewed by the
church, the press and the metropolis OF
England, go into the makeup of the
satire There is also story. of course,
a double threaded one, but 1t is picked
up at spasmodic intervals, and the
real character of the book Is deter
mined by the points already mentioned.