Fancy Free, and other Stories. By Charles Gibbon. 3 vols.
(Chatto and Windus.)—Mr. Gibbon is happier, we are inclined to think, in describing the love and war of three centuries ago, than in telling a story of modern life. The middle-aged guardian who has a hopeless attachment to an unconscious ward, is a character that we seem to know too well. We anticipate almost exactly how he will look, what he will say. His hopes and fears, his self-abnegation, and his sorrows are too familiar. Too familiar, also—at least, of late years—is another personage who plays an important part in Mr. Gibbon's story, a "claimant." It is with something like dismay that we view hit entrance upon the scene. We gladly allow, however, that there is a certain briskness of action in the tale when the impostor's scheme
comes to its crisis. Mr. Gibbon can always tell a story well, and he is not inferior to himself here. The third volume is occupied with two short stories, which call for no especial remark, except as regards the first, that it is not easy to understand what really happened.
Previous page
