Revicv: of Revieics, 1/3113. 



THE BOOK OF THE MONTH. 



SATAN'S VISIBLE WORLD.* 



W/tere are you g 



The criminal Law Amendment Bill 

 has passed. . . . Scotland Yard has 

 full power . . . but all who know 

 anything of such matters realise that 

 this is but one step forward. 



But even now the many know of the 

 underworld as a name only. Hence this 

 vivid novel of Miss Robins. Usually 

 the " novel with a purpose " is so over- 

 laid with the "purpose" that "art" is 

 nearly invisible. There is no need to 

 fear that when the author of the Open 

 Question uses her pen. Her artistic 

 genius takes the dry bones of facts and 

 clothes them with a humanity so in- 

 tensely natural that when, as in this 

 case, she has to put before us a tragedy 

 that even to think of is agony no one 

 will wonder if we say that Where Are 

 You Going? is a book to be read only 

 in the innermost sanctuary of the home, 

 and when read to be kept in the memory 

 as a never-dying incentive to action. 



MOTHER BUT NOT COMPANION. 

 The story can scarcely be said to have 

 a plot ; it' is a simple narration of a 

 terrible happening, during which we see 

 right into the hearts of the actors. The 

 opening scene shows us a widow, who is 

 living in a quiet country place with her 

 two little daughters. Of her circum- 

 stances we get but a hint or two. There 

 is no extraneous word to blur the chief 

 action, so even the family name is not 

 mentioned, nor that of the elder girl. 

 So as the heroine, for our purpose, 

 needs a name, we will call her " Sister." 

 Sister, after telling of the care taken of 

 them both, and especially of Bettma, 

 says: "There was nothing the least 

 tragic about my mother's usual looks 

 or moods. She was merely gentle and 

 aloof. She played for us to dance. 



"T^^^l^ere are~Yo^r^G^i^gr By^EUzabeth 

 Robins. (Heinemann. 6b.) 



oiitg to. . . .? 



And she played for us to sing. But 

 after Bettina and I had gone through 

 our gay little action songs, and after 

 we had sung all together our glees and 

 catches, we would be sent upstairs to do 

 lessons in the morning-room — which 

 was our schoolroom under the cheer- 

 fuller name. 



" Then sitting alone, between day- 

 light and dark, our mother would sing 

 for herself songs of such sadness as 

 youth could hardh^ bear. I think we 

 were not expected to hear them." 



In some way which is never explained 

 to us a shadow hangs over the house- 

 hold. From a word occasionally drop- 

 ped it would seem that the mother had 

 had cause to fear the evil in a man. 

 Yet, instead of explaining to her daugh- 

 ter the facts of life, her one thought 

 seems to have been to wrap them up in 

 cotton wool. 



" SISTER." 



"Sister" is really the mainspring of 

 the household. She acts as nurse to her 

 delicate mother and as companion and 

 guide to her pretty, wayward little 

 sister, about whom her mother seems 

 continually to fear, and Sister has to 

 promise that she will never remit that 

 care. The two girls have no relations, 

 so far as they know, except a vague 

 idea that their father had a step-sister, 

 Mrs. Josephine Harborough, who had 

 brought him up, but being much dis- 

 pleased at his marriage, she had hitherto 

 taken no notice of them. 



She has by chance met a doctor who, 

 because of undermined health, has taken 

 a cottage in their neighbourhood, where 

 he has a laboratory. The mother's ill- 

 ness brings him in contact with the 

 family, and Sister becomes so absorbed 

 by the deep attraction he has for her 



