ter_ habit had blown over appears
to have been premature), disappears at an early stage. The subsequent
course of events reminds me of the words of the musical-comedy poet,
popular in my youth, who wrote, "It were better for you rather not to
try and find your father, than to find him"--well, certainly better than
to find him as _Peter_ found his. Perhaps it would not be unfair to
suppose that Miss MARGARET PETERSON had at this point her eye already
firmly fixed upon her big situation. Certainly the course of _Peter_ is
rather impatiently and spasmodically sketched till the moment when
matters are sufficiently advanced to ship him also to Africa, in company
with an elderly hunter of butterflies named _Mellis_. Their adventures
form the bulk of the tale (filled out with some chat about elephants,
and a sufficiency of love-making on the part of _Peter_), and I suppose
I need hardly tell you how one of them, poor _Mellis_, is immediately
captured and brought before the terrible white king of the hidden lands,
nor how this same monarch, a really dreadfully unpleasant person, turns
out to be--Precisely. So there the tale is; little more incredible than,
I dare say, most of its kind; and if you have no rooted objection to
characters all of whom behave like persons who know they are in a book
there is no reason why you should not find it at least passably
entertaining.

* * * * *

Mr. F. BRETT YOUNG'S manner of presenting _The Tragic Bride_ (SECKER) is
not free from affectation, and this is the more irritating because his
literary style is in itself admirably unpretentious. But having recorded
this complaint I gladly go on to declare that his tale of _Gabrielle
Hewish_ has both charm and distinction. I protest my belief in
_Gabrielle_ both in her Irish and English homes, but my protest would
have been superfluous if Mr. BRETT YOUNG had not almost super-taxed my
powers of belief. So also with _Arthur Payne_; he is a fascinating lad,
and the battle between his mother and _Gabrielle_ for possession of him
was a royal struggle, fought without gloves yet very fairly. All the
same I caught myself doubting once or twice whether any boy could at the
same time be so human and so inhuman. It is to Mr. BRETT YOUNG'S credit
that these doubts do not interfere with one's enjoyment of his book, and
the reason is that he is first and last and all the time an artist.

* * * * *