Some Books of the Month. 



475 



FOUR STUDIES OF WOMEN AND 

 MARRIAGE. 



In Mrs. Antes* the man and woman are 

 illegally attracted chiefly because they are idle. 

 In The Three Anarchisis^ Janet and George are 

 tempted because she is unmated, though mar- 

 ried. Both are young and mutually attractive. 

 In The Irresistible Mrs. Ferrersl the wife pas- 

 sionately loves her husband, who has married 

 her without affection in order to have an heir. 

 In Lamorna^ the difficulties are chiefly tempera- 

 mental. 



Mr. Benson gives us in Mrs. Ames some 

 clever character-sketches, drawn from the 

 dlite of Risborough, which, like Cheltenham, is 

 the special resort of retired .'\rmy people, solici- 

 tors, etc. Mrs. .\mes is the social leader, a 

 woman with any amount of common sense, 

 plucky, and dominant with the power which 

 knowledge of one's own resources and careless- 

 ness about the opinion of other people give. 

 Her husband is good-hearted and happy-go- 

 lucky, and though ten years younger than his 

 wife, this has been a matter of no moment until 

 the period when our introduction to them takes 

 place. And her cousin, Mrs. Evans, for sheer 

 lack of interest in life, gets into mischief and 

 makes love to Major Ames. None of the 

 characters has ideal aims, and the descriptions 

 of the luncheon parties, the " catty " gossip, 

 and provincial outlook are drawn to the life. 



No one of Mrs. Rawson's readers will be 

 surprised to find that her " three anarchists " are 

 the divine ones of Love, Birth, and Death, those 

 who, Mr. Masterman says, are " always disturb- 

 ing to anv satisfied civilisation." Her heroine, 

 Janet Boldre, the offspring of passionate love, 

 was left stranded, a day-old babe, on the tender 

 mercies of a foreign municipality. At three 

 vears old a Hammersmith orphanage took charge 

 of her. At fourteen Janet was sent out to ser- 

 vice. At length she came to anchor with a 

 happy-go-lucky but moral and sober family, 

 and sh.ircd their poverty, acting as " help," 

 go\erness, nurse, and companion in the house- 

 hold of a retired quartermaster, until chance did 

 her a good turn and a Pekingese puppy intro- 

 duced her to a lady who took her into her house 

 .ind gave her a chance of educ.ition. Mrs. 

 Lemon's next proceeding wrought the trouble of 



By E. F. Benson. (Hodder 

 6s.') 

 t The Three Anarchists. By Mauil Stepney 

 Rawson. (Stanley Paul. 6s.) 



J The Irresistihie Mrs. Ferrers. By .Arabella 

 Kenealy. (Stanley Paul. 6s.) 



§ Jjimnrua. By Mrs. Alfred Sidgwirk. 



(Mrlhucll. 6s.) 



* Mrs. Ames. 

 and .Stoughton. 



Janet's life. A kinsman of her benefactress 

 came to stay in the house. He was a widower 

 and wanted a second wife ; Janet, he saw, would 

 do admirably. He was not a grand wooer, but 

 Janet had never come in contact with lovers, 

 and Mrs. Lemon played upon her love for 

 children. Janet could give children to the 

 House of Boldre, of which she, her kinsman, 

 and his son were the last descendants. Too 

 late the girl realised her mistake. George was 

 unlovable in every sense and unestimable. He 

 made a home for her after a year or two of 

 uncomfortable lodgings, but brought into it the 

 ghosts of all his former evil doings. Amongst 

 others, his neglected son came by chance into 

 the same neighbourhood. \'outh turned to 

 youth, causing bitter sorrow, the exile of the son 

 and the death of the father resulting. Sorrow 

 developed Janet's character, she grew fast 

 mentally and was becoming ready for the 

 motherhood for which she had always craved. 

 To her a second time came the three anarchists : 

 death carried away her husband, the birth of 

 her little son followed rapidly, and love came 

 later; rich, full and overflowing. Mrs. Raw- 

 son's novel is not a smooth, regularly told 

 story ; it demands thought and bears re-reading 

 — in fact, its value does not lie on the surface, 

 but must be sought for. 



.\rabella Kenealy's is a powerful and re- 

 markably interesting psychological story. 

 The observer in chief is Christopher Malet, a 

 distinguished author, who, having been com- 

 pelled to divorce his wife, accepts the invitation 

 of his nephew, a doctor, to come .ind pay him a 

 visit in the quiet of his country home. Study of 

 character is the passion tjf Mulct's life, and soon 

 after his introduction to his hostess he realises 

 that, though thin and plain, even ugly at times, 

 she has attractive power ; but it is the attraction 

 of the snake type — cold, quick, lithe, and subtle. 

 She is likely to be a woman of surprises, though 

 to the ordinary onlooker she is simply a cheerful 

 wife, loving her husband and ruling him. Bui 

 Carry Corry is but a subordinate character, 

 though under the stress of suddin temptation 

 she justifies Malel's estimate of her. The in- 

 terest of the story centres round Lady Lygon 

 ;md Mrs. Ferrers, the rivals for the love of 

 Monica Lygon's husband. Miss Kenealy is 

 prodigal of colour in her presentation of Mrs. 

 Ferrers, yet curiously this lady is not so real as 

 Lady Lygon, probably because the latter is more 

 truly a woman; h<T strength lay in self-repres- 

 sion, that of Mrs. Ferrer.s in self-expression. 



Malet was present at a gathering to which 

 Mrs. Ferrers had been invited. 



He »nw not a beautiful woman mcrelv. but a unique 

 aiirl cntbrallins perionalily, tlic sort of woman who 

 makes history and unmake* civilisations. In that 



