THE VANITY BAG. By William Gerhardi. (Henn. Os. and ls.)—We
have here the concentrated essence of a novel, doubly, triply, quadruply distilled and exquisitely blended. It is more than a long short story, and has far more virtue than the majority of novels. In the space of some seven thousand words the author has made known to us eight individual characters : by sonic magical process he has extracted their very souls. He has suggested the life history of Mr. Mackintosh Beck, who fell in love with Imagard, not because he thought her beautiful, but because other people thought so, which made him think of her as such." He tried to propose but was constantly interrupted by trifling incidents. " All the same," he reflected at the end, " I think I like the old duffer best." The old duffer was Herr Schultz, Irmgard's father, who left home because of the incessant hangings of the door by his fourteen children, and who, as he said, " came out with aphorisms quite spontaneously." Schultz was an author : he had written a book, and " one or two little- well youthful attempts—school essays." We all know him. No review could do justice to this short masterpiece : to its wit, satire, tragi-comedy and Chekhovian irrelevancies. One regrets its brevity while applauding the studied economy that has made it so perfect.
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