Mr. Ford of The Marsden Case is Mr. Ford Madox
Hueffer. To those who have read the book this remark will not seem quite altogether unnecessary or irrelevant, as it is in this fact alone that its worth lies. The story is of a young man who was the rightful heir to an earl, but who was driven to nervous prostration and attempted suicide by the efforts of his sister and various well-meaning friends to establish his legitimacy. The story is told in the first person, but the narrator is seen, as is everything else in the book, in a sort of nightmare, thunderstorm light. He has elements of Mr. Ford's own personality, but with each quality a little askew. Mr. Ford is interested in people : the narrator of The Marsden Case is a snob : and so forth. However, the story is well managed, the style is pellucid, and the night-club incident extremely
well observed and amusing. But it remains an unsatisfactory book.
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