NOVELS.
LADY BALTIMORE.*
THE author of The Virginian was sure in advanoe of an appreciative hearing from the large English audience who had enjoyed the fine qualities of his earlier work. It is pleasant, therefore, to be able to say that, although he now reveals another and less striking aspect of his talent, his reputation will be more than merely maintained by his new venture. The choice of theme and the character of the narrative dictate, it is true, a leisurely mode of progress, and viewed merely as a story Lady Baltimore is not without its longueura. The plot is somewhat overweighted by digressions and discussions, and accordingly the whole narrative lacks that inevitable march which rivets the attention of the reader from start to finish. But as a picture of the contending and conflicting influences at work in the America of to-day; as a study of contrasted ideals ; as a gallery of finished portraits ; as a thoughtful yet fearless criticism of the vulgarities and vices of modern American society; and as a generous appreciation of the temper, the charm, and the romance of the South as they survive in a typical Southern city, it would be difficult -to speak too highly of this delightful volume.
The scene of the story is entirely laid in Kings Port, which internal evidence proves to be Charleston, where the narrator, a young Northerner of leisure and culture—we gather incidentally that he has lived for some time in Paris—has been sent on a fantastic mission by his aunt, a New Yorker of old family, and president of the "Society of Selected Sadie Scions," anxious to obtain documentary evidence proving that her ancestors were sprung from royal blood. Augustus—the nephew—immediately falls under the spell of South Carolina, and, while nominally pursuing his genealogical researches in the public library, lapses into the position of sympathetic onlooker at, and subsequently participator in, a comedy of courtship. Lunch- ing at the Ladies' Exchange, he overhears an order given for a wedding-cake by a young man to the young lady behind the counter,—a charming " up-country " South Carolinian of good family ruined by the war. He is instinctively attracted by the manner and bearing of the young man, and in the limited society to which be has already obtained the entrée, where every one knows or is related to every one else, soon finds out all about John Mayrant and his engagement—frowned upon by all his relatives—to the brilliant adventuress, Hortense Rieppe, the daughter of a General with a dubious record. Convinced that John Mayrant is making a great mistake, but that out of a spirit of Quixotic chivalry he is prepared to go through with it at any sacrifice to himself, Augustus gradually exchanges the attitude of a detached onlooker for that of an amiable but determined conspirator. The siren delays her coming to Kings Port, nominally on account of her father's health, but really because she has attracted another suitor, a millionaire of the new school, and this delay enables the narrator in the course of their frequent meetings and conversations to play effectively on his friend's misgivings. But when Hortense arrives with her Newport gang of millionaires, motorists, and "flamboyant females" (as Mr. Anstey would say) she is so far human as to develop an acute jealousy of the charming "girl behind the counter," and to employ the entire battery of her fascinations in order to retain John Mayrant's allegiance. For the final outcome of this phase of the comedy we must refer our readers to the pages of the book itself. As • Lady Baltimore. By Owen Wister. 'mann: Macmillan and Co. [Si.]
it proceeds the story gains in rapidity of movement, and the entirely satisfactory denatimtnt is precipitated by an incident which is sensational without being improbable.
Lady Baltimore, as may be gathered from what we have said above, is a many-sided book, in which plot and incident, ingenious though they are, are of subsidiary importance, and serve the ulterior purpose of enabling the writer to liberate his mind on a number of burning questions. His attitude is that of a sincerely patriotic American who, while proud of his country and her past, and confident of her future, is yet keenly alive to the perils of her present prosperity, and in particular of the mad quest of pleasure indulged in by the "yellow rich,"—the 1113pgr resulting from the paipor of the Greek tragedian. But while he realises that "a world of haste cannot be a world either of courtesy or kindness," his recogni- tion of the reticence and dignity of the South does not render him unjust to the solid qualities of the North. His satire is inspired, not by malice, but by a genuine desire of reform. He would always rather praise than castigate. In regard to the race question, he is none the less a friend of the negro for not being a negrolater. In fine, here is an author of whom America may well be proud, not only for his literary accom- plishments, but for his generous, yet discriminating, have of his country.
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