Heathergate. Henry S. King and Co.—A novel in two volumes
is cheerful to contemplate, until one finds out that it involves complica- tions enough for six, and demands close attention to a series of rambling people and unconnected events extending over three- fourths of a century in time and a couple of continents in space. Then the two volumes are more troublesome than three, for one has less room to turn in, more difficulty in remembering who is who, and what is what. Heatheraate, in two volumes, is an entirely baffling production, as the most practised reader of novels for business purposes might confess without a blush. No book could open under fairer colours or with a more distinct statement than does this one, " Towards the end of the eighteenth century, James Stormont and Marjorie Spens were united in holy matrimony, and settled down in the village of Heathergate, in the north-east of Scotland. Born of Presby- terian parents, James Stormont's secession to the Episcopalians was so bitterly resented by them and by almost all his relatives as to cut him off from intercourse with his family for many years." Except the dubious composition, there is nothing to object to in these sentences. Married, settled, (though in the "north-east " of Scotland !) reclaimed from Dissent, and cut off from his relatives, James Stormont would appear at first sight to be the moat harmless and soothing of heroes, a
soporific for the reviewer, as often blamelessly weary as indolent. But he is a delusion, and Marjorie Spans is a snare, and the results of that marriage are bewildering beyond endurance. Occasionally, while patiently wrestling with them, we come upon clever little bits of character- drawing and descriptions of old-fashioned Scottish society, but they hardly sustain one to the end.
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