The Affair at the Inn. By Kate Douglas Wiggle, Mary
Findlater, Jane Findlater, and Allan M'Aulay. (Gay and Bird. 36. 6d..)— The reader on studying the above imposing list of authors may perhaps conclude that The Affair at the Inn is a very large and important work. Great, therefore, will be his surprise at the slim volume which is offered to his notice, and, it must be added, at the equal thinness of its contents. The plan of the story (which ia quite an innocent little specimen of the sort of literature common iii"summer numbers ") is that each of the four authors should be responsible for one character, and that the tale should be written in the form of a diary, so that the same events may be seen from different points of view. As no events more exciting than a picnic, and in the end a proposal, take place, the point of view becomes more important than the events ; and even in this the authors hardly do themselves justice. Virginia Pomeroy, for instance, is not half so original a person as our dear friend "Penelope," though drawn by the same hand. To excuse its existence this sort of literary tour de force should be brilliant both in theme and execution ; and, unfortunately, "pleasant and graceful" are the most laudatory adjectivei which can be applied to The Affair at the Inn.
Previous page
