FICTION.
THE WIFE OF A HERO.t
TRE tragedy of war-marriages is tolerably familiar to the public by this time, but Miss Syrett gives tragedy a fairly wide berth. There is a thin vein of subsidiary romance in the courtship of Irene Latter, who, to escape from uncongenial home surroundings, marries a humble soldier, who does not even • The Logo, of NotaJen : 0.1 InxIneZeal Argtomed. 1ST A. Y. Pollanl. Oxford: at Ito (lorendou 1'r6.. ID. net.) the lt.f /s lie, ny ea ayrdUo London : bkellIngton. leo. SO. net.J
know bow to pronounce her name correctly. But Irene at least excites a certain amount of compassion, and we are left without mush misgiving as to her future. It is far otherwise with the principal characters. Anne Templeton was handsome, attractive, spoiled and adored by her maiden aunt, highly educated and admiring all the correct authors, with a most eligible suitor in Mr. Roger Neilson. " Instead of which " she fell in love with a young Apollo, with no intellectual resources and a painfully limited vocabulary, and, in spite of the half- hearted warnings of her friends, married him out of hand, only to find that they had nothing in common, and that, as far from rounding Cape Turk, he had not altogether cleared Seraglio Point. The news that he was killed was a relief ; when it was announced that he was alive and had been awarded a V.C. she was quite unable to " endure her felicity with fortitude." The sequel describes how Mrs. Gaythorne, a former mistress of the V.C., with whom he had maintained relations after his marriage, discovering that Anne was weary of her husband and ready to marry Neilson, who had opportunely amassed considerable means as a munition-worker, proposed a rearrangement of partners, which met with immediate acceptance, and, so far as we can judge, was promptly carried out. If the story is intended as a satire, it fails in its aim, since it arouses no high indignation ; only resentment that a man capable of distinguished valour in the field should be represented as incapable of chivalry in private life. We do not say that the tale is impossible; it is certainly unnecessary.
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