_Pietro Ghisleri_ is another success for that charming writer MARION
CRAWFORD. The style is everything. The story is not of so thrilling a
nature as to be absorbing, but it is sufficiently interesting--for the
Baron, at least, with whom M.C.--"Master of his Craft"--is a great
favourite. "Odd, though," murmurs the Baron to himself, and he seldom
murmurs about anything; "odd that a writer like our MARION should,
in Vol. II., p. 35, pen such a sentence as this: "There are plenty
of others whom you may care for more than I." Of course the author
intends _Maddalena del' Armi_, who utters these words, to convey to
her listener and to the reader that "There are plenty of others for
whom you may care more than (you care) for me." How does "than I" get
into this sentence, unless it is to mean "There are plenty of others
for whom you may care more than I care for them"--_quod est absurdum_."
It is unfortunate that the pivot on which the plot turns is so highly
improbable as to be almost impossible, for is it not most unlikely
that any Catholic, educated or uneducated, should ever _write_ her
confession to her confessor, and send it by post, instead of going to
him, and making it by word of mouth? She must have known that, in
so doing, she was making no confession at all, _i.e._, in the
restrictedly religious sense of the word. While she was about it, she
might as well have inclosed a stamped and addressed envelope for the
absolution to be sent by return. This is the hinge of the story; and
it is a very weak one. Mr. CRAWFORD recognises this when his
other characters casually discuss the probability of _Adele's_
having done such a thing. However, grant this, which is almost as
easily done as granting superhuman strength to a Ouidaesque hero,
and the book--in three of MACMILLAN'S blue volumes--is fascinating.
Such is the candid opinion of THE BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.
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[Illustration: THE SPIRIT LEVEL.
_Relentless Youth._ "'ULLO 'ERE, GUV'NOR, WHAT 'YER UP TO NAOW? TYKIN'
A HORDNANCE SURWEY O' THE DISTRICT, I SUPPOSE!!"]
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