An Imaginative Man, By Robert S. Hichens. (Heinemann.)— The clever
author of "The Green Carnation" presents in his new book nothing of the character of a chronique eeandaleuse, but only a very remarkable study of a man who, brooding over the mystery of humanity in his own preposterous way, goes mad, and knocks out his brains in the most literal of fashions against the Egyptian Sphinx. It cannot be said that there is anybody in the story who, in ordinary life, would be con- sidered likeable, or even tolerable. Denison, who spends the bulk of his time—before he goes quite mad—analysing his poor, simple, shallow wife, is certainly not the sort of man one would choose for a husband, or even for a travelling companion. But there is a certain eerie fascination about him, and occa- sionally, at all events, he merits pity rather than dislike. The wretched lad, Gay Daintree, on the other hand, who is dying and is aware of the fact, and yet insists on seeing "life,"—in the vicious sense,—is wholly repulsive, and does not even appear to be drawn from life. Then Mrs. Daintree can be regarded as nothing more than a rather inferior specimen of the mother who spoils her child, for the rather frantic efforts of poor, weak Mrs. Denison to make out that there is "something between" that lady and her own husband, in the shape of a flirtation, are trans- parently absurd. There is an abundance of" smart" writing, and especially of "smart" dialogue in An Imaginative Man, and Mr. lichens would hardly have been the author of" The Green Car- nation" had he not introduced at least one audaciously realistic scene,—that representing " wickedness " in Cairo. But, on the whole, his new book will not generally be accounted as clever as its predecessor.
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