WITHOUT CONDITIONS.*
This is a novel which has the admirable peculiarity of being written with a sense of style. It is placed in the 'forties of last century, in Aberdeenshire, but it does not seem remote from the emotional life of our own time. Though the outward forms of manners have changed so much, it would still be possible, we believe, to write a story with every detail up to date round the situation used in this one without the reader becoming conscious of any incongruity. The only loss would be in dramatic intensity, and it is this which Miss Mackenzie gains by retiring to the modest 'forties. The key to the situation is the sense of shame which strikes a girl when she cools down after the impulse which forced her to write a letter of sympathy to a man whom she believed to have lost all his estates, thus unwittingly disclosing her love for him. Under present conditions the shame might not be absent, but with the modern spread of comradeship between the sexes it would certainly be less acute.
The atmosphere of the period is well conveyed, without any over-elaboration of detail, by the light touches which properly belong to the feminine hand, and as the story is concerned principally with women, the task is both congenial. and specialized. Costume, in particular, as a means of marking the period, is particularly suitable to a woman writer, and in this respect also Miss Mackenzie makes good use of the opportunity ;— " The light gleamed on her shoulders, milky in the shadows against- the shimmering bodice of her gown, pale silvery rose cut straight across them in the explicit fashion of the day. At the pointed narrow waist its stiff bulwark flared to a huge and glowing spread of silk. . . ."
If any are impatient of the remembrance of past loveliness they will find passion also revived for them in this brief but moving story. Within its own limits it has the charm of small perfections.
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