3°4 



NOTABLE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. 



AN AMATEUR GENTLEMEN. 



All who read " The Broad Highway " 

 will turn with pleasant anticipations to 

 Jeffrey Farrol's latest novel. " The Ama- 

 teur Gentleman" (Sampson Low, 3/6). 

 nor will they be disappointed. The book 

 is full of incident from cover to cover, 

 and will certainly add greatly to Mr. 

 Farrol's reputation and be as popular 

 as his earlier novel. There is throughout 

 a satisfying sureness about the unfold- 

 ing of the tale which shows the master 

 hand. Barnabas Barty, son of an ex- 

 champion jiugilist, and a society belle, 

 in the early days of the past centur)-. 

 inherits a great fortune and hies him to 

 London to become a gentleman. Though 

 an amateur gentleman is all he can ever 

 be, Natty Bell, another champion 

 bruiser, assures him. On the way to 

 town he meets and rescues the Lad\' 

 Cleone. and in doing so forthwith 

 comes into collision with those who set 

 the fashion of the day. Young bucks 

 who consider all fair in love or lust. 

 Barnabas, a powerful young man, a 

 finished boxer and horseman, chooses 

 ever the hardest path owing to his love 

 of truth and straight dealing. He ulti- 

 mately attains his ambition when the 

 Pruice of Wales himself attends a ban- 

 quet in his honour. How the cup was 

 dashed from his hand just as he was 

 enjoying the deep draft of success, 

 how though he failed to become a gen- 

 tleman, as the term was accepted in 

 those days, he yet achieved his greatest 

 desire, is thrillingly told by Mr. Farrol. 

 This clever writer introduces almost as 

 many and as varied characters into his 

 tales as Dickens used to do, and his 

 sympathetic handling of them is re- 

 miniscent of the work of that master m 

 realistic portrayal of everyday life. 

 Nothing could be better than his draw- 

 ing of Peterb3^ the valet ; ]\Ir. Shrig, 

 the Bow Street runner ; the Duchess of 

 Camberhurst ; the Bo'sun ; Jasper 

 Gaunt, the money - lender ; Digby 

 Smivvle, the out-at-elbows friend of 



Ronald Barryaine, the rake ; and of 

 the host of minor characters which 

 crowd his pages. The following ac- 

 count of Barnabas' first meeting with 

 his lady love gives a good idea of Mr. 

 Farrol's style: "Now on a while Bar- 

 nabas came to where was a stile with a 

 path be\ond, a narrow path that led up 

 over a hill until it lost itself in a wood 

 that crowned the ascent ; a wood where 

 were shady dells full of a quivering, 

 green twilight ... a wood that Barnabas 

 had known from bo\-hood. . . . Now had 

 Barnabas gone on by the road how dif- 

 ferent this history might have been, and 

 how vastl)^ different his career. But as 

 it happened, moved by chance or fate 

 or destiny, or what )ou will, Barnabas 

 vaulted over the stile and strode on up 

 the winding path, whistling as he went, 

 and, whistling, plunged into the green 

 twilight of the wood, and, whistling 

 still, swung suddenly into a broad and 

 grassy glade splashed green and gold 

 with sunlight ; and then stopped all at 

 once and stood there silent, dumb, the 

 very breath in check between his li|)s. 



"She lay upon her side — full length 

 upon the sward, and her tumbled hair 

 made a glory in the grass, a golden 

 mane. Beneath this silken curtain he 

 saw dark brows that frowned a little, 

 a vivid mouth, and lashes thick and 

 dark that curled upon the pallor of her 

 cheek. 



" Motionless stood Barnabas with eyes 

 that wandered from the small, polished 

 riding-boot with its delicately s]:)urred 

 heel, to follow the gracious line that 

 swelled voluptuously from knee to 

 rounded hi]3, that sank in sweetl)- to a 

 slender waist, yet rose again to the 

 rounded beauty of her bosom. 



" So Barnabas stood, and looked and 

 looked, — and looking sighed, and stole 

 a step nearer, and stopped again. For 

 behold the leaf)- screen was parted sud- 

 denlv, and Barnabas beheld, two boots 

 — large boots they were but of exquisite 



