The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-21

lute lack of scruple. her money grab bing, and her callous, truly German dis regard of the sufferings of others, is effective if never very real The hero, Gavan Napier, is spineiess sort of person, and the American heroine is not merely d fool, but silly and obstinate fool as well. Her adoration of Greta hysterical and schcoolgirllsn as 1t. is, might perhaps be excused as a con cession to the exigencies of the plot thought it is easy enough to see how it might all have been very much better managed. But when she becomes parrotlike echo of the ineffable and traitorous ass Julian Grant. and gets mixed up in those pacifist activities which were so great a help to Ger many she loses her last shred of claim on the readers sympathy Though the man who loves and finally wins her is , not an especially likable person, one cannot help feeling sorry for him in thinking of his future with such a silly and perverse bore for wife. Of course, Nan is supposed to come. partly at least, to her senses in the end. but the reader greatly doubts whether she has any senses to--come to. The pacifist Julian is fairly good example of that type of person who struggled to make excuses for Germany and to pick flaws
 
 fused to credit other peoples tales of their experience of German brutality, whereupon his spacifism collapsed with, great rapidity. The book would be bet- ter if fewer pages of it were devoted to Julian and his opinions.
 The best thing in the story is the vivid account of the sinking of the Holland America liner Leyden and the landing of the survivors, which is ad
 mirably done in story which is writ ten in an excellent style and gives a good picture of certain phases of the war. Some of the German activities in the United States are described. to- gether with the ease with which Ger man spies travelled about under cover of American passports. The Messen- ger' may be summed up as an interest ing story of a spy, yet unlike the usual run of spy stories. this one makes no pretense of concealing the identity of the spy; even the very dullest of read CTS knowss.almost from the first that Miss Von Schwartzenberg, the highly esteemed governess, whom Sir William and Lady Mcintyre regard as "a treas ure" and treat as dear and trusted friend. is working in collusion with the two young Germans who call them selves Carl and Ernet Pforzheim, and who. with their supposed and somewhat mysterious rather, have rented Glen fallon Castle, a place on the Scottish coast not far from Sir Williams own estate of Kirklamont. When the war comes, both~ Sir William and his wife insist upon showing the utmost confi- dence in their German governess; they obtain a permit for her to remain, and their innocent confidence enables her to put through several pleasant little schemes. However. 'Gavan Napier. Sir Williams s private secretary. has learned to suspect the young woman every one else adores, and attempts to warn his chief. but all to no purposc-until ths English secret service, which has been quietly attending to the matter of Miss Won Schwartzenberk, produces irrefu- table evidence of her guilt.
 For though. as one of its members declares. You hear very little about the English secret service, and you