f of Learned Clerks.)

Looking about among the very best _cliches_ (my own and
others)--"supersubtle analysis," "intimate psychology," "masterly
handling," "incomparable artistry"--I found nothing that it didn't seem
a sort of impertinence to apply to JOSEPH CONRAD's _Chance_, which
METHUEN has just had the good luck to publish. For the whole thing is
much nearer wizardry than workmanship. I put the book down with a gasp,
so close had I been to realities as conjured up by one to whom realism
is a servant and not a master. I had come to know, in that piecemeal way
in which one actually gets to know one's fellows--waiting for later
experience to confirm or modify earlier impressions--the hapless, tragic
_Flora_; her father, _de Barral_, the pseudo-financier, fraudulent
through unimaginative stupidity rather than criminal intent; the
kindly-cruel pair of _Fynes_; that perfect, chivalrous knight of the
sea, _Captain Anthony_, _Flora's_ fiery-patient lover; his splendidly
staunch second officer, _Powell_, and the analytic _Marlow_, also a
sailor-man, who acts in the capacity of ultra-modern chorus to this
tragedy of chance. The central idea is the old wonder that such vast
issues can hang upon such trivial happenings, not merely in the outer
realm of fact but on the inner stage of character. And, this being his
theme, perhaps Mr. CONRAD ought to have been more scrupulously careful
to use no such strained coincidence as _Powell's_ detection of _de
Barral's_ attempt at revenge on his fancied enemy, _Anthony_. But this
is indeed a slight defect in a work of brilliantly sustained imagination
and superb craftsmanship. I wonder if the author's magic has so seduced
my judgment as to make me feel that the somewhat shadowy characters of
_Captain Anthony_ and _de Barral_ are deliberately suggested in fainter
outline just because _Marlow_ has in fact not known them personally, but
only through the reports of others. I am prepared to believe the author
of _Typhoon_ subtle enough for that, or for anything else, and I have
this only grudge against him, that he intrigued me to the point of
feverishly "skipping," out of sheer excitement to know if and how the
deplorable misunderstanding between _Flora_ and her quixotic _Captain
Anthony_ was to be cleared up, just like any ordinary decent
library-subscriber, instead of the case-hardened critical fellow I
naturally take myself to be.

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