" I am afraid that Mr. MORLEY will
not thank me for praising his brisk melodrama at the cost of his ramblings
in literature. But, if he has the knowledge, he lacks the fragrance; not to
put too fine a point on it, he is long-winded and tends to bore in his
disquisitions upon books and bookishness; which is no proper material for a
novelist. The story is all about America and is thoroughly American;
inevitably therefore there is some ambitious word-coining. The only novelty
which sticks in my memory and earns my gratitude is the title for the
female Bolshevik, to wit, Bolshevixen.
* * * * *
Wayward and capricious heroines who marry young are entitled, I think, to a
certain amount of introspective treatment by their authors. Without some
knowledge of their mental working it is not very easy for the reader to
have patience with them. I was introduced to _Anne_ (HEINEMANN) when she
was fifteen, and in the act of snatching a loaf of bread from a baker's
cart and running away with it merely to annoy the baker; and, as she had
large blue eyes and two young men as self-appointed guardians, I was
prepared for a certain amount of heart trouble later on.
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