The greatest scene is hers: the scene in which she meets herdivorced husband with his second wife.One may suspect some ofthe other scenes, but one must accept that scene as one ofgenuine dramatic worth.Too much of the drama in the book istheatre rather than drama, and yet the author's gift isessentially dramatic.He knows how to tell a story on his stagethat holds you to the fall of the curtain, and makes you almostpatient of the muted violins and the limelight of the closingscene.Such things, you say, do not happen in Brookline, Mass.,whatever happens in London or in English country houses; and yetthe people have at one time or other convinced you of theirverity.Of the things that are not natural, you feel like sayingthat they are supernatural rather than unnatural, and you ownthat at its worst the book is worth while in a time when mostnovels are not worth while.
Footnotes"The Right of Way." A Novel.By Gilbert Parker. Harper & Brothers.
"The Ruling Passion. Tales of nature and human nature."By HenryVan Dyke. Charles Scribner's Sons.
"Spoils and Stratagems Stories of love and politics."By Wm.
Allen White. Charles Scribner's Sons.
"Foma Gordyeeff."By Maxim Gorky. Translated from the Russian byIsabel F. Hapgood. Charles Scribner's Sons.
"Circumstances."By S. Weir Mitchell, M.D. The Century Company.
"A Japanese Nightingale."By Onoto Watana. Harper & Brothers.
"The Marrow of Tradition."By Charles W. Chesnutt. Houghton,Mifflin & Co.
"Lay Down Your Arms. The autobiography of Martha von Tilling."By Bertha von Suttner. Authorized Translation. By T. Holmes.
Longmans, Green & Co.
"Let Not Man Put Asunder."By Basil King. Harper & Brothers.
End