The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-12-03
GA Likely storx.n

"a Likely story sr
BY Willlar' de Morgan Holt
d Co.. OF New York. 31.55 net.
A olinquecento portraic of lovely
young girl. Maddaiena Raimondi, un-
happily married to the Marchese Raj
mondi by her parents, is the inspira.
ton of three-fold romance told here
In characteristic style by one of the
most prominent English noyelIsts OF
to-day.
The red lips of tho painted girl n
tho picture that, after lying hid In
darkness for 400 years. comes acrosD
soas into the studio OF an English
artist to be ;>ntored and made TO
smile az when the brush OF her lover
first touched Observation-Disclosures stand
Ing In the room Of the four crowns and
In front of tapestry showing Solomon's
Judgment that rendered the villa Raj
mondl famous; Maddalena, In dress
OF yellow eatin brocade broidered with
gold thread. her red-gold halr a rip
ping shower over the brocnded gilly-
flower on the bosom OF her bodice.
eternnlly young and fair--wakes and
remembers the romance. the tragedy
and the after happiness of her life.
Tho story of II runs all through the
book, intermingling Its sweetness and
Its passion with that OF the young
English girl who Is constant to o
British soldier on the lonely veldt In
Africa: with that OF shallow and
rather 6ordid nature, dabbling with
liBtless fingers the surface currents of
life around her. yielding to impulses OF
ridiculous false pride and shamcd
back into better behavior by the voice
OF tho picture. showing how perverted
judgment had caused unnecessary pain
and trouble and separation.
The different threads OF the novel
arc each as carefully worked out as
II that thread and no other occupied
tho authors attention. This ia william
DO MorBan's way He Is nothing II
not thorough. No Bcamped or incom-
plote work has any place in his plan
Of things. Consequently. while the
oinquecento feature OF "A Likely
Story" Is itn pivotal point whatever OF
life and Interest there Is associated
with II has Its separate purpose and
teaches It's separate lesson.
The Chelsea fog and damp, the
shnO6ineBs Of Reginald Aiken's studio.
the Introduction into II Il tho grimy
Sairah. destroyer OF the picture restor-
er's art all lead UP % the books
main theme. for the portrait occupying
Mr.. Aikcn's attention Is the Early
Italian Maddalena. being made ready
for hanging in the library of Surley
leigh Upwail. NJ p. To the studio come
Madeline Upwell, Sir Stopleigh's
charming daughter. an. her gallant
young soldier, Captain Calverly. to see
the portrait before It Ia sent 10 Surley
Stakes.
Tbs visit causes a quarrel between
tho Aikens: Mrs. Aiken feels herself
80 aggrieved and takes auch a per-
vertcd view of affairs that she leaves
home and goes to spend some time
with her aunt Euphemia Ba1, leaving
Mr.. Aiken TO discomfort and solitary
meditation. Now the portrait on the
easel looking out with the Italian
Maddelena's eyes saw all that passed.
When. afterward a photograph OF the
portrait was sent Mrs. Aiken. NADIA
lena told her the truth IN dream.
and told It SO well that the wife went
at once home TO her husband. and
all Misunderstanding were cleared
away.
TO Mr.. Pelly. friend and neighbor
OF Sir stopielgh Upwell. called by
Madaline Upwcn Uncle christopher,
the Muddalena of the portrait hanging
above the library mantel at Surley
Stakes. first relates her history. and
afterward. in manuscript. describes
how her brave resourcefulness rescued
her portrait painter from the subter
ranean dungeons OF the Castillo del
bel Riposa, where the tyrant duke had
Imprisoned him for life: of how tho
Fan, a woman whom he had greatly
wronged. and OF how the only draw
back to the perfect subsequent happi-
meas OF Maddalena and Giacinto lay
in the fact that Maddalena's portrait
had disappeared and could never be
found.
The medieval romance has all the
thrill and the power Of an age when
men and women were moved by PRINT
tive impulses. Against this glowing
tapestry the well-regulated IDEAS Of
modern civilization and Its restrictions
are clearly defined. Madeline Upwell.
of England. at once arrays herself on
the sldo Of the italian Maddalena. be-
comes her defender and convert to
the idea that Maddalenas intense per-
sonality has survived the lapse OF cen
turtles and lives again in her pictured
representation and in an allen land.
She is faithful as Maddalena was.
When others round her believed her
young soldier dead in Africn, she still
keeps faith and hope alive. When he
returns to justify both and to take his
bride to a happy home of her own, she
b still near enough to come often to
the Stakes. And whenever she does
she always goes straight to the pic
ture and looks at 1t before anything
else And she tells little Madeline, h r
eldest girl, who Is old enough to un-
derstand. that pictures can see and
hear, and that this one has told her
story OF the long ago.
For novelist. in one novel. to bring
such different periods OF civilization