Book Reviews [pp. 492-495]

BOOK REVIEWS
493
ers had strung together; the daughter, with
her flower-like complexion, who from her
earliest knowledge of anything, had known
intimately the viola da gamba, the clavichord,
and the virginal, and standing by her father's
knee had learned the chants he hummed from
old manuscripts and missals, who warbled the
music of Elizabethan days as other children
sing the vulgar songs of the hour, all this and
much more makes an artistic setting that is
delicious. It is a shock to pick up a periodical and find in it a picture of the supposed
original of Mr. Innes. One would rather
have in the mind the dreamy, intangible idea
that Mr. Moore has created. All through, the
spirit of music broods over the book-the
dreamy, voluptuous, enticing, bewildering
spirit of music, that we feel so controls the
lives of father and daughter, that they are
hardly responsible creatures. But the keynote of the climax, the inevitable ending, is
given in the early part of the book, when Sir
Owen is "now engaged in the destruction of
her moral scruples - in other words making
the way easy for his successor." If Mr.
Moore has done nothing more than to point
out the one important truth, that the evil one
leads another to do does not stop with that
particular act, and that the one who brings
about the first slip from the right path can
never lose the responsibility of all the evil
that follows as a natural sequence. he has
written a book with a purpose.
The Two Magics.,
THOSE who like the weird will be fascinated by the Tzitrn of the Screw, one of the two
stories just published by Henry James through
the Macmillan Company. The reader's hair
will rise at the beginning of this remarkable
tale, and it will not settle down comfortably
even when the end is reached. Mr. James's
style has become as interesting as a Chinese
puzzle. It reminds one of George Mereaith -
with a difference. With the riveting of the
reader's attention on every sentence on the
one side, while the sensationalism of the story
holds absorbingly on the other, Mr. James
has reached a combination which is unique
among story-tellers. The second story, "Covering End," is a faint reminder of "Daisy Miller"; but Mr. James's characters, in both ways
and speech, have grown more intricate since
Daisy Miller's time.
I The Two Magics. By Henry James New York:
The Macmillan Company. $1.50.
The Disaster.i
THE two sons of General Marguerite, who
was killed at Sedan, have given the officer's
point of view of the struggle of the Army of
the Rhine previous to the capitulation of
Metz. This narrative has been compared with
Zola's "La Debacle," which is an account of
pretty nearly the same thing, the battle of Sedan, from a soldier's point of view. The book
seems written with the purpose of revealing
the weakness of Marshal Bazaine, and the
ignorance from which France and her army
suffered so bitterly. While it is documentary,
it is always a novel. It is rather long, but this
is not a fault, for the dialogues are clever, and
the story is instinct with life.
Rupert of Hentzau. 2
THE sequel of "The Prisoner of Zenda'"
needs no introduction to the reading world.
The fascinating interest of the book itself, together with the beautiful play that sprang from
it, has made everyone anxious to know more of
the characters that held so completely the
public heart. The two books are now offered
in uniform binding by Henry Holt & Company. The illustrations of Rupert of Hentzau, as well as those of "The Prisoner of
Zenda" are by Charles Dana Gibson. Although very recently published, the sale has
been very large, and as the dramatization of.
the later book will soon be on the stage, the
demand for the book will no doubt continue.
Told In The Coffee House.3
THIS collection of Turkish tales has been
gathered together, and put into English by
two or three foreigners, fascinated by the Oriental style of the stories, determined to give
the world an idea of the illustrative manner
of conversation of the modern Turk. Mr. Adler, after giving a description of a modern
Turkish coffee houser says: "A few (of theoccupants) will be engaged in backgammon, but the majority enter into conversation,
at first only in syllables, which gradually give
rise to general discussion. Finally, some sage
comes in, and the company appeals to him
to settle the point at issue. This he usually
does by telling a story to illustrate his opin
I The Disaster. By Paul and Victor Marguerite
New York: D. Appleton & Co. $1.50.
2 The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau, together in box, $3.00, or separately, $1.50 each. New
York: Henry Holt & Co.
3 Told In The Coffee House. By Cyrus Adler and.
-Allan Ramsey. New York: The Macmillan Company.
75 cents.