The Rubies of Rainier, by Mrs. Egerton Eastwick (George Nevrnes,
Limited), is a by-no-means bad specimen of the Orientalised melodramatic fiction for which there seems to be a great demand in these days. The central figure of the story is a mysterious Indian, Rajmar by name, who is neither Christian nor Mussulman, who is handsome, tall, and well made, and who, paying 4600 a year to Vicar Charlecote, fascinates his daughter Mabel into an engagement. Then there are equally mysterious rubies, which have a knack of disappearing. There are two murders to discover the perpetrators of ; at all events, Rajmar is murdered; and the poor vicar is discovered dead under circumstances which, to say the least, suggest foul play. Mabel Charlecote has an English lover of the familiar, bold, manly, open-and-above-board sort, and sisters who insist on looking lovingly after her. These girls, more particularly the high-spirited Amy, are well drawn, and so are most of the young men who figure in the story,—especially Charlie Ranks, Amy's lover. Rajmar is rather unsatisfactory,—except when, at the close of his life, be leaves a fortune to Mabel; that is to say, he is neither good enough nor lead enough. It must be allowed, however, that the complications of the plot, in which the Indian wife of Rajmar and others are involved, are managed in the most approved style of " detectivism." A story, indeed, that is readable from the first page to the last, disarms criticism.
Previous page
