THE STORY OF A SHOWER.*
THE story of which the name appears in the foot-note is "by the Author of Misrepresentation," who illustrates the subject of her last novel by the title of her present one ; for instead of getting the story of a shower—which suggested to us pleasant wanderings in April weather, over the varied beauties of different countries, looking down, with a presiding fairy and " the man that holds the watering-pot," from a rain-fringed cloud, on its own shadow flitting over hill and dale, and looking back on the brighter track left behind us by its refreshing waters—we have only an ordi- nary tale of humanity ; the consequences, to some limited extent, of a pouring rain, for which " shower " is a scarcely adequate expression.
Physiologists tell us that in food we require " bulk" as well as " nourishment," and that for this end something cheap and "filling at the price" will do. That bran or even sawdust is better than nothing for this purpose. Miss Anna Drury and her class of writers fill the humble place of purveyors of " bulk" to the consumers of novels. Rising superior, however, to innocuous and tasteless sawdust, they generously provide an article which may be said—viewing their efforts in a liberal spirit —to supply both nourishment and stimulus, a sort of macaroni and cheese, or what goes by that name in families where the desire for economy disguises itself under an ostensible anxiety for the children's diges- tion. There is the correct moral tone and the poetically just denouement to represent the nutritious and useful macaroni, and the soupcon of piquancy added by the faint effort at sensationalism, will fairly stand for the parsimonious gratings of cheese and the • The Story of a Shower. By Anna H. Drury. London: B. Bentley and Bon. residue in the lid of the pepper-caster generously superadded by the treasure of an economical cook. Were it not for these modest, and certainly not too successful attempts to excite the palate, these literary productions would scarcely rise above the rank of what we used, as children, to designate as "poorly puddings"; not because the puddings themselves were out of health—though their constitutions, we too often noticed with sadness, were want- ing in tone and vitality—but because they were prescribed for our childish ailments by the skilful doctor, unwilling, no doubt, to risk relapse by a too speedy throwing into the system of mutton chops, and preferring, at the sacrifice of his valuable time, to go on the " slow and sure" principle. As we grew bigger, we pre- ferred to incorporate " bulk " in less simple forms, and we are scarcely likely in the region of intellectual food to return to them now, even when Mies Anna Drury herself is the fair caterer. aunt and her numerous retainers, the children. Fanny conceives the happy idea of bringing over her brother Cawdor—the ostenta- tiously repentant reprobate already referred to—to make love to Margaret in his character of interesting invalid. Here, again, is an opening, and it begins well. Fanny and he take rooms in the same house with Margaret, and are soon spong- ing upon her for their entire expenses ; then Cawdor borrows a considerable sum—eighty guineas or thereabouts—for an unhappy Frenchman who has been at the gaming-tables and will immediately cut his throat. We pass over the transparent improbability of her lending it—for Margaret knew the more than doubtful antecedents of the Fenlake family—but having done so, Mies Drury recoils from what she finds herself in for, in respect of Cawdor's villanies thus encouraged ; so that very night she brings him home drunk from the gaming-tables, and arranges for Margaret to let Cawdor in, and for Cawdor to let the truth out. Finally, we have a Major foreman, who arrives to bully Cawdor into paying him a gambling debt. He knows all sorts of secrets of Cawdor's past life, and seems going to be interesting, and to lead Cawdor a sad dance in his pursuit of the heiress ; but the very next day Miss Drury gets alarmed, and she bundles out Major Horsman and with him the frail Fanny, so that we are now rid of all the dangerous elements of the story ; and Godfrey, who ha long seen through Miss Fanny, is free to offer his hand to his good and excellent cousin, from whose chronic rheumatism the baths of Kaisersruhe have now released her.
The most successful scene in the book is undoubtedly that in which Fanny—whose coaxing, vain, insincere character, as distin- guished from her conduct, is really skilfully drawn—presents herself with her little maid at Godfrey's home ; and the most humorous touch is Fanny's comparison of it to a nest, and her proposed mama-in-law to a bird. Miss Fenlake, before her arrival, writes fondly of her desire to find herself under Mrs- Woodward's wing, and her daughters tell the latter that she will have to stretch it " out pretty wide to cover her new nestling," and the maids object to the trouble of making the nest comfortable for " the affectionate and grateful bird."
"The visitor arrived, and it was at once evident that Mrs. Woodman'tt wing would be kept a little on the stretch, as the fly was full of boxes, and Miss Fenlake had brought her maid'—a small sharp-eyed child of fourteen, dressed in clothes that had evidently been made for and well- worn by somebody twice her age. This attendant having been care- lessly desired to 'see to everything herself,' Fanny hastened to throw• herself into as many arms as were open to receive her, and certainly- had no reason to complain of the hospitality of her welcome. The girls were pleased with the novelty, and the children rejoiced in the bustle,. and escape from lessons ; Mrs. Woodman, though not equal to meeting her in the hall, sat in serene benignity on the sofa, ready to fold her wings over her when required; and Margaret, after the first civil greetings, rendered her loyal service by attending to her maid and her- property. A decided difference of opinion between Amelia' and the driver, with regard to his fare and gratuity, having been with difficulty prevented from exploding into a lively quarrel, he departed without. offering to convey the baggage upstairs, and the number of articles piled together looked rather formidable. Amelia, however, drily observed that they wore not so heavy as they looked. We fills 'em up as we goes along,—but there's none on 'em full yet; and she proved her assertion by the ease with which she lifted the largest."
The way in which Fanny immediately proceeds, under cover of a. compliment on the homeliness and unpretendingness of every- thing, to depreciate all that her hostesses had fondly hoped would look rather stylish than otherwise, is also amusing and good ; and the quarrel at the first game of croquet, in which as " enfant terrible " discovers her cheating, and insists on fixing it upon her, is described with spirit. A propos of the children's almost rough rectitude, inculcated by their brother Godfrey—who first slackens in his allegiance to the pretty Fanny on detecting her utter want of common honesty—there is a needlessly cruel incident. A little sister Lucy has been eavesdropping, and soon after tumbles over a precipice ; in her illness her great trouble is the recollection of this fault, and a desire to see Godfrey and to confess to him ; but when Godfrey arrives it is too late, and we have neither the consolation to the little creature of forgiveness and a farewell kiss, nor to the reader of her recovery ; although no pur- pose of the story is served by killing her, unless it is to gain an average of one death-bed scene per volume.
These are the sort of stories—with a very weak, improbable,. uncertain, and timid plot ; with little attempt to portray any but the most ordinary characters, and none whatever to allow them to reveal and express their own individuality in dialogue— which supply " bulk" for the voracity of general consumers ; and we have only to rejoice that it is not, as a rule, dangerously adulterated, but even contains a small per-tentage of nourishing and not altogether tasteless ingredients.
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