The sun., 1915-03-06

leaves him and goes to the house Of
The man she thinks she loves. There
they are joined. first by a doctor with
whom she was once In love and then
by the husband. The scene Ia in
Shanghai, and while they are discuss
ing the situation they are informed
that a Chinese servant has cholera
and that the house is Quarantined.
Thereupon they debate the question
| ON every side with absolute frankness.
each OF the men striving to find out
what Is best for the woman, while
she tries 10 figure out which man she
really loves. The authors cleverness
leaves the reader in doubt about the
outcome. II he is interested in 1t, till
the quarantine Is lifted; then the So
luton may seem rather arbitrary.
A ten years rest has not changed
the quality OF Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
Sherlock Holmes, and in THE Valley
| OF Fear" George II. Doran Company.
while he does stoop to some physical
cSertion, he still depends on his intui-
ton to awe the faithful Watson and
the amazed police detectives. Sir Ar
| thur has grown bit difYuse and
spreads over half a volume what once
would have made one short story. The
| manuscript entrusted to Watson fills
| out the other half; this is a story Of
| trade union outrages in the United
| States, which are detected by more
common methods. The author seems
| to have heard OF the Los Angeles
! trials. The conclusion. with its ref
| erence to Prof. Moriarty. is q relic OF
the former short story days; II seems
| out Of place in what purports to be
novel.
A strange idea has been worked out
| very artistically by Jules Roman in
THE Death of a Nobody (B. W.
Huebsch. New York;, and fully de-
serves the careful translation which
Desmond Mccarthy and Sydney Wa
| terlow have made Of 1t. An elderly
mechanic dies in his Paris lodgings
| his only connections are his old par
ents in country village. a club of
townsmen whom he meets occasion
ally and the men he once worked with.
! NJ. Roman describes the stir the death
causes. the Immediate effect on the
people who are called in to act. the
coming together OF the other tenants.
| the effect Of the news in his native
! village, the. incidents Of the funeral.
Then he tells Of the fading away Of
his memory; his parents die; the
neighbors forget him; last OF all q
'young man walking in the rain hap
pens to remember seeing the funeral
when he was a boy. but cannot recall
the name. The man Is really dead
; then. IL is a realistic study OF Paris
life and OF human nature the presen-
tation OF a fact about our common lot
which may seem discouraging to some
people, but will be readily accepted by
/ most men who can take the time to
think IL out.
/ BY dwelling on uncanny and super
/ natural appearances Charles wads-
worth Camp in Sinister Island"
/ tDodd, Mead and Company mana ges
/ to keep his readers uncomfortable
and Interested till the matter OF
fact solution OF the puzzle is
reached. II is a we'll planned mys-
terry tale in which the effects Of terror
on several people are shown with
much skill. The determined hero who
will not believe in ghosts manages to
keep his wits clear as regards them:
| his sudden attachment and rapid
! counting of the extraordinary young
woman is mechanical rather than hu-
man and can only be accounted for by
some sort Of Sherlock Holmes instinct
That, fortunately, Is left out Of his
detective equipment. The stubborn
ness OF his friends is remarkable; they
are bound to regain their mental equi-
poise regardless of physical discom-
fort TO them and to others; the right
psychcal research spirit. The author
INDUCES in the eccentricity Of conceal
ing his heroine's name from the reader
and the hero. for no perceptible reason.
The device does not help the story in
any way.