NOVELS.
THE OUTCRY.•
THE inclusion of The Outcry amongst "popular novels" is a misnomer. For a great many years Mr. Henry James has written to please himself, not the public, and the majority of novel readers would never get beyond or even
through the opening scene between Lady Sandgate and Lord John. As he says himself of one of the interlocutors, "it appeared to take him time to read into these words their full sense," and the average mind resents hard reading in a novel. At the same time The Outcry is not nearly so obscure as many of Mr. Henry James's recent works, and in certain situations the characters suddenly lapse into a plainspoken- ness that must astonish the devout admirers of his later manner. There is quite a high percentage of pages which can be read without a check, and in the dialogue quite an unusual number of sentences end with a full stop and not a dash.—It was once said of Mr. James that he was a literary ticket-of- leave man, because he never completed a sentence; but here, at least, the saying will not hold good.—As a rule it is impossible for Mr. Henry James to write ten lines without giving some authentic proof of his peculiar quality. But the following passage, in which Lady Grace gives Lord John his conga, might have been written by almost any contemporary novelist.
"Her perversity, coming straight and which he had so little expected, threw him back so that he looked at her with sombre eyes. 'Ali, it's not for such a matter I'm here, Lady Grace—I'm hero with that fond question of my own.' And then she turned away, leaving him with a vehement motion of protest : 'I've come for your kind answer—the answer your father instructed me to count on.' I've no kind answer to give you!'—she raised for- bidding hands. I entreat you to leave me alone.' There was so high a spirit and so strong a force in it that he stared as if stricken by violence. 'In God's name then what has happened—when you almost gave me your word ?" What has happened is that I've found it impossible to listen to you.' And she moved as if fleeing she scarce knew whither before him. He bad already hastened round another way, however, so as to meet her in her quick circuit of the hall. That's all you have got to say to me after what has passed between us?' He had stopped her thus, but she had also stopped him, and her passionate denial set him a limit. 'I've got to say—sorry as I am—that if you must have an answer it's this : that never, Lord John, never, can there bo anything more between us.'"
The Outcry differs from most of Mr. Henry James's recent novels in matter as well as manner. It is, contrary to the author's practice, frankly topical, the theme being that
burning question of tollay, the disposal of art treasures by titled owners. Lord John—we never arrive at his family • TM Outcry. By Henry James, London: Methuen and Co. 16e.]
name—the younger son of a terrible old duchess on whom be is dependent for supplies, is a suitor for the hand of Lady Grace, the younger daughter of Lord Theign. Lady Kitty Imber, her married sister, is a great gambler and owes thousands to the duchess. But the old lady consents to release Lady Kitty from her debts of honour if her father will settle a handsome sum on Lady Grace. Now Lord Theign is short of ready money, but richly endowed with art treasures, and the astute Lord John contrives that his matrimonial overtures to Lord Theign shall coincide with a visit from the famous American dealer, Mr. Breckinredge Bender. Chance ordains that they shall also coincide with the visit of Mr. Hugh Crimble, a brilliantly clever and enthusiastic art critic, with whom Lady Grace has struck up an acquaintance. On the question of the sale of his great prize—a Sir Joshua—Lord Theign is firm, but when Crimble confidently proclaims his belief that one of his minor treasures—a Moretto—is a Mantovano, he is quite prepared to treat with Mr. Bender on a basis which will enormously increase its value. The question of the attribution, however, has to be referred to Continental experts, and the situation thus developed proves fatal to the suit of Lord John. Lady Grace is an enthusiast : she regards the sale of the picture as an unholy and unpatriotic act, and associates herself with Crimble in his bold offer to undertake an exhaustive inquiry into the true authorship of the Moretto if Lord Theign will give' him an assurance that his success is not to serve as a basis for any possibility of its leaving the country. One suspects Lord John of parasitic tendencies from the outset, when we are told that his physique and general deportment suggested "the art of living at a high pitch and yet at a, low cost." But Lord Theign is a more uncertain quantity and the corroding effect of the great bribe so dexterously dangled before him is most ingeniously developed. Lady Grace, who is the strongest character in the story, remains impenitent throughout. Un- moved by the stormy appeals of her father to her sense of filial duty, she quits her home, takes up her quarters in London with Lady Saudgate, and in defiance of her father's wishes continues to meet and encourage Crimble in his campaign. Crimble's confidence in the Mantovano is damped for a while by an adverse report from one great Continental expert, but he succeeds in arousing public opinion and enlisting the aid of the Press. Finally, the greatest of the experts declares himself on his side, and Lord Theign, who has placed the picture on view in London, is manoeuvred into a position in which in face of the "outcry "—the awaken- ing of public opinion—he recognizes the impossibility of its sale. Lord John, balked of his commission and his bride, characteristically revenges himself by forcing the hand of Lord Theign to yield to Royal influence and present his priceless picture to the nation. Though the story is short and, for Mr. James, told in a straightforward way, the fore- going outline gives but an imperfect notion of its psychological interest. We have omitted, for example, all reference to the curious position of Lady Sandgate, who countenances Lady Grace in her mutiny while she simul- taneously contrives to retain her hold on Lord Theign and keep in touch with the Napoleonic Mr. Bender. We have already noted some features in The Outcry which distinguish it from Mr. James's later work, but the most notable of all remains. Instead of ending on a note of interrogation, the story is rounded off with something like a full close in which Lady Grace pairs off with the art critic, and Lord Theign finds consolation in an eminently suitable alliance with the tenacious Lady Sandgate. The Outcry, in fine, is a very opportune illustration of the saying that property has its duties as well as its rights, and it is greatly to the author's credit that, in view of recent events, he should have avoided the slightest suspicion of composing a roman d clef.
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