AS BEDERHOF ARRANGED.
Of the next day I have three visions.
I see myself with Krak and Princess Heinrich. Pride illuminated their
faces with a cold radiance, and their utterances were conceived in the
spirit of a _Nunc Dimittis_. They congratulated the world on its Ruler,
the kingdom on its King, themselves on my account, me on theirs. To Krak
I was her achievement; to my mother the vindication of the support she
had given to Krak, and the refutation of my own grumblings and
rebellion. How could I not be reminded of my coronation day? How not
smile when the Princess, after observing regretfully that the Baroness
would not be able to educate my children, bade me inculcate her
principles in the mind of their tutor or governess. She was afraid, she
said, that dear Elsa might be a little lacking in firmness, a little
prone to that indulgence which is no true kindness in the end. "The very
reverse of it, madame," added Krak.
"It's quite time enough for them to begin to do as they like when they
grow up," said the Princess Heinrich.
"By then, though," said Krak, "they will have learned, I hope, to do
what they ought."
"I hope so with all my heart, Baroness," said I.
"Victoria is absurdly weak with her child," Princess Heinrich
complained.
Krak smiled significantly. She had never expected much of Victoria; the
repression of exuberant wickedness had been the bounds of her hope.
Krak left us. There must have been some noticeable expression on my face
as I watched her go, for my mother said with a smile:
"I know you think she was severe. I used to think so too, now and then.
But see how well you've turned out, Augustin!"
"Madame," said I, "my present excellence and my impending happiness
reconcile me to everything."
"You had a very happy childhood," my mother observed. I bowed. "And now
you are going to marry the girl I should choose for you above all
others." Again I bowed. "And public affairs are quiet and satisfactory."
A third time I bowed. "Kiss me, Augustin," said my mother.
This summary of my highly successful life and reign was delivered in
Princess Heinrich's most conclusive manner. I had no thought of
disputing it; I was almost surprised that the facts themselves did not
suffer an immediate transformation to match the views she expressed.
What matter that things were not so? They were to be deemed so and
called so, so held and so proclaimed. My mother's courage touched my
heart, and I kissed her with much affection. It is no inconsiderable
achievement to be consistently superior to reality. I who fought
desperate doubtful battles, crippled by a secret traitorous love of the
enemy, could not but pay homage to Princess Heinrich's victorious front.
Next I see myself with Elsa, alone for a little while with Elsa exultant
in her pomp, observed of all, the envy of all, the centre of the
spectacle, frocked and jewelled beyond heart's desire, narcotized by
fuss and finery, laughing and trembling. I had found her alone with
difficulty, for she kept some woman by her almost all the day. She did
not desire to be alone with me. That was to come to-morrow at Artenberg.
Now was her moment, and she strove to think it eternal. It was not in
her to face and conquer the great enemy after Princess Heinrich's heroic
fashion; she could only turn and fly, hiding from herself how soon she
must be overtaken. She chattered to me with nervous fluency, making
haste always to choose the topic, leaving no gap for the entrance of
what she feared. I saw in her eyes the apprehension that filled her.
Once it had bred in me the most odious humiliation, an intense longing
to go from her, a passionate loathing for the necessity of forcing
myself on her. I was chastened now; I should not be in so bad a case as
Struboff; there would be no question of a fresh slice of bread. But I
tried to harden myself against her, declaring that, desiring the prize,
she must pay the price, and deserved no pity on the score of a bargain
that she herself had ratified. Alas, poor dear, she knew neither how
small the prize was nor how great the price, and her eyes prayed me not
to turn her fears to certainty. She would know soon enough.
Last comes the vision of the theatre, of the gala performance, where
Elsa and I sat side by side, ringed about with great folk, enveloped in
splendour, making a spectacle for all the city, a sight that men now
remember and recall. There through the piece we sat, and my mind was at
work. It seemed to me that all my life was pictured there; I had but to
look this way or that, and dead things rose from the grave and were for
me alive again. There was Krak's hard face, there my mother's
unconquerable smile; a glance at them brought back childhood with its
rigours, its pleasures snatched in fearfulness, its strange ignorance
and stranger passing gleams of insight. Victoria's hand, ringed, and
gloved, and braceleted, held her fan; I remembered the little girl's
bare, red, rapped knuckles. Away in a box to the right, close by the
stage, was the Countess with her husband; my eyes turned often toward
her and always found hers on mine. Again as a child I ran to her, asking
to be loved; again as a boy I loved her and wrung from her reluctant
love; again in the first vigour and unsparing pride of my manhood I
sacrificed her heart and my delight. Below her, standing near the
orchestra, was Wetter; through my glass I could see the smile that never
left his face as he scanned the bedizened row in which I sat. There with
him, looking on, jesting, scoffing at the parade, there was Nature's
place for me, not here playing chief part in, the comedy. What talks and
what nights had we had together; how together had we fallen from heaven
and ruefully prayed for that trick of falling soft! See, he smiles more
broadly! What is it? Struboff has stolen in and dropped heavily into a
seat. Wetter waved a hand to him and laughed. Laugh, laugh, Wetter! It
is your only gospel and therefore must be pardoned its inevitable
defects. Laugh even at poor Struboff whose stomach is so gross, whose
feelings so fine, who may not give his wife a piece of bread, and would
ask no greater joy than to kiss her feet. And laugh at Varvilliers too,
who, although he sits where he has a good view of us, never turns his
eyes toward the lady by my side, but is most courteously unobservant of
her alone among all the throng. Did she look at him? Yes, for he will
not look toward her. Why, we are all here, all except Hammerfeldt, who
looks down from heaven, and Coralie who is coming presently to sing us
the wedding-song. Even Victoria's Baron is here, and Victoria's sobs of
terror are in my ears again. Bederhof and his fellows are behind me. The
real and the unreal, the dummies and the men, they are all here, each in
his place in the tableau. When Coralie comes, we shall be complete.
The opera ended and the curtain fell. There was a buzz of talk.
"Our anthem comes now, Elsa," said I.
"Yes," she whispered, crushing the bizarre satin rag of a programme that
they had given her. "I have never heard Madame Mansoni," she added. I
glanced at her; there was a blush on her cheek. She had heard of Madame
Mansoni, although she had not heard her sing.
I put up my glass again and looked at Wetter. He nodded slightly but
unmistakably, then flung his head back and laughed again. Now we waited
only for Coralie. With her coming we should be complete.
The music began. By arrangement or impulse, I knew not which, everybody
rose to their feet. Only Elsa and I sat still. The curtain rose and
Coralie was revealed in her rare beauty and her matchless calm. A moment
later the great full feelingless voice filled the theatre; she had had
no doubt that she could fill the theatre. I saw Struboff leaning back in
his chair, his shoulders eloquent of despair; I saw Wetter with
straining eyes and curling lips, Varvilliers smiling in mischievous
remembrance of our rehearsal. By my side Elsa was breathing quick and
fast. I turned to her; her eyes were sparkling in triumph and
excitement. It was a grand moment. She felt my glance; her cheek
reddened, her eyes dropped, her lip quivered; the swiftest covert glance
flew toward where Varvilliers was. I turned away with a sort of sickness
on me.
Coralie's voice rose and fell, chanting out her words. The deadness of
her singing seemed subtle mockery, as though she would not degrade true
passion to the service of this sham, as though the words were enough for
such a marriage, and the spirit scorned to sanction it. Elsa's eyes were
on her now, and the Countess leaned forward, gazing at her. The last
verse came, and Coralie, with a low bow and a smile, sang it direct to
me--to me across all the theatre, so plainly that now all heads were
turned from her, the people facing round and looking all at me and at
Elsa by my side. Every eye was on us. The song ended. A storm of cheers
burst out. A short gasp or sob came from Elsa. The cheers swelled and
swelled, handkerchiefs waved in the air. I rose to my feet, gave Elsa my
hand, and helped her to rise. Then together we took a step forward and
bowed to all. Silence fell. Coralie's voice rose again, repeating the
last verse. Now all the chorus joined in. We stood till the song ended
again, and through the tempest of cheers. There had been no such
enthusiasm in Forstadt within the memory of man. The heart of the people
went forth to us; it was a triumph, a triumph, a triumph!
The next day we were married, and in the evening my wife and I set out
together for Artenberg. This was what Bederhof had arranged.
THE END.
BY ANTHONY HOPE.
The King's Mirror.
Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
Mr. Hope's new romance pictures the life of a prince and king under
conditions modern, and yet shared by representatives of royalty almost
throughout history. The interactions of the people and royalty, the
aspirations of the prince, the intrigues surrounding him, the cares of
state, and the craving for love, are some of the motives developed, with
the accompaniments of incident and adventure, wherein the author proves
his mastery of suspended interest and dramatic effect. It is a romance
which will not only absorb the attention of readers, but impress them
with a new admiration for the author's power.
The Chronicles of Count Antonio.
With Photogravure Frontispiece by S. W. Van Schaick. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"No adventures were ever better worth telling than those of Count
Antonio.... The author knows full well how to make every pulse thrill,
and how to hold his readers under the spell of his magic."--_Boston
Herald_.
The God in the Car.
New edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25.
"A very remarkable book, deserving of critical analysis impossible
within our limit; brilliant, but not superficial; well considered, but
not elaborated; constructed with the proverbial art that conceals, but
yet allows itself to be enjoyed by readers to whom fine literary method
is a keen pleasure."--_London World_.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS.
BY ELLEN THORNEYCROFT FOWLER.
_A DOUBLE THREAD_. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"The excellence of her writing makes ... her book delightful reading.
She is genial and sympathetic without being futile, and witty without
being cynical."--_Literature, London, Eng._
"Will attract a host of readers.... The great charm about Miss Fowler's
writing is its combination of brilliancy and kindness.... Miss Fowler
has all the arts. She disposes of her materials in a perfectly
workmanlike manner. Her tale is well proportioned, everything is in its
place, and the result is thoroughly pleasing."--_Claudius Clear, in the
British Weekly_.
"An excellent novel in every sense of the word, and Miss Ellen
Thorneycroft Fowler is to be congratulated on having made a most
distinct and momentous advance."--_London Telegraph_.
"We have learned to expect good things from the writer of 'Concerning
Isabel Carnaby,' and we are not disappointed. Her present venture has
all the cleverness and knowledge of life that distinguished its
predecessor."-_London Daily News_.
_CONCERNING ISABEL CARNABY_. No. 252, Appletons' Town and Country
Library. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents.
"Rarely does one find such a charming combination of wit and tenderness,
of brilliancy, and reverence for the things that matter.... It is bright
without being flippant, tender without being mawkish, and as joyous and
as wholesome as sunshine. The characters are closely studied and clearly
limned, and they are created by one who knows human nature.... It would
be hard to find its superior for all-around excellence.... No one who
reads it will regret it or forget it."--_Chicago Tribune_.
"For brilliant conversations, epigrammatic bits of philosophy, keenness
of wit, and full insight into human nature, 'Concerning Isabel Carnaby'
is a remarkable success."--_Boston Transcript_.
"An excellent novel, clever and witty enough to be very amusing, and
serious enough to provide much food for thought."--_London Daily
Telegraph_.
MISS DOUGALL'S BOOKS.
_THE MORMON PROPHET_. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"A striking story.... Immensely interesting and diverting, and as a
romance it certainly has a unique power."--_Boston Herald_.
"In 'The Mormon Prophet' Miss Lily Dougall has told, in strongly
dramatic form, the story of Joseph Smith and of the growth of the Church
of the Latter-Day Saints, which has again come prominently before the
public through the election of a polygamist to Congress.... Miss Dougall
has handled her subject with consummate skill.... She has rightly seen
that this man's life contained splendid material for a historical novel.
She has taken no unwarranted liberties with the truth, and has succeeded
in furnishing a story whose scope broadens with each succeeding chapter
until the end."--_New York Mail and Express_.
"Mormonism is not ordinarily regarded as capable of romantic treatment,
but in the hands of Miss Dougall it has yielded results which are
calculated to attract the general public as well as the student of
psychology.... Miss Dougall has handled a difficult theme with
conspicuous delicacy; the most sordid details of the narrative are
redeemed by the glamour of her style, her analysis of the strangely
mixed character of the prophet is remarkable for its detachment and
impartiality, while in Susannah Halsey she has given us a really
beautiful study of nobly compassionate womanhood. We certainly know of
no more illuminative commentary on the rise of this extraordinary sect
than is furnished by Miss Dougall's novel."_--London Spectator_.
"Miss Dougall may be congratulated both on her choice of a subject for
her new book and on her remarkably able and interesting treatment of
it.... A fascinating story, which is even more remarkable and more
fascinating as a psychological study."-_The Scotsman_.
_THE MADONNA OF A DAY_. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents.
"An entirely unique story. Alive with incident and related in a fresh
and captivating style."--_Philadelphia Press_.
"A novel that stands quite by itself, and that in theme as well as in
artistic merit should make a very strong appeal to the mind of a
sympathetic reader."--_Boston Beacon_.
_THE MERMAID_. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents.
"The author of this novel has the gift of contrivance and the skill to
sustain the interest of a plot through all its development. 'The
Mermaid' is an odd and interesting story."--_New York Times_.
_THE ZEIT-GEIST_. 16mo. Cloth, 75 cents.
"One of the most remarkable novels."--_New York Commercial Advertiser_.
BOOKS BY GRAHAM TRAVERS.
_WINDYHAUGH_. A Novel. By GRAHAM TRAVERS, author of "Mona Maclean,
Medical Student," "Fellow Travellers," etc. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
"'Windyhaugh' shows an infinitely more mature skill and more subtle
humor than 'Mona Maclean' and a profounder insight into life. The
psychology in Dr. Todd's remarkable book is all of the right kind; and
there is not in English fiction a more careful and penetrating analysis
of the evolution of a woman's mind than is given in Wilhelmina
Galbraith; but 'Windyhaugh' is not a book in which there is only one
'star' and a crowd of 'supers.' Every character is limned with a
conscientious care that bespeaks the true artist, and the analytical
interest of the novel is rigorously kept in its proper place and is only
one element in a delightful story. It is a supremely interesting and
wholesome book, and in an age when excellence of technique has reached a
remarkable level, 'Windyhaugh' compels admiration for its brilliancy of
style. Dr. Todd paints on a large canvas, but she has a true sense of
proportion."-_Blackwood's Magazine_.
"For truth to life, for adherence to a clear line of action, for arrival
at the point toward which it has aimed from the first, such a book as
'Windyhaugh' must be judged remarkable. There is vigor and brilliancy.
It is a book that must be read from the beginning to the end and that it
is a satisfaction to have read."--_Boston Journal_.
"Its easy style, its natural characters, and its general tone of
earnestness assure its author a high rank among contemporary
novelists."--_Chicago Tribune_.
"We can cordially eulogize the splendid vitality of the work, its
brilliancy, its pathos, its polished and crystalline style, and its
remarkable character-painting."--_New York Home Journal_.
_MONA MACLEAN, Medical Student_. 12mo, paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
"A high-bred comedy."--_New York Times_.
"'Mona Maclean' is a bright, healthful, winning story."--_New York Mail
and Express_.
"Mona is a very attractive person, and her story is decidedly well
told."--_San Francisco Argonaut_.
"A pleasure in store for you if you have not read this volume. The
author has given us a thoroughly natural series of events, and drawn her
characters like an artist. It is the story of a woman's struggles with
her own soul. She is a woman of resource, a strong woman, and her career
is interesting from beginning to end."--_New York Herald_.
_FELLOW TRAVELLERS_. 12mo, paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
"The stories are well told; the literary style is above the average, and
the character drawing is to be particularly praised.... Altogether, the
little book is a model of its kind, and its reading will give pleasure
to people of taste."--_Boston Saturday Evening Gazette_.
"'Fellow Travellers' is a collection of very brightly written tales, all
dealing, as the title implies, with the mutual relations of people
thrown together casually while traveling."--_London Saturday Review_.
TWO SUCCESSFUL AMERICAN NOVELS.
_LATITUDE 19°_. A Romance of the West Indies in the Year of our Lord
1820. Being a faithful account and true, of the painful adventures of
the Skipper, the Bo's'n, the Smith, the Mate, and Cynthia. By Mrs.
SCHUYLER CROWNINSHIELD. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"'Latitude 19°' is a novel of incident, of the open air, of the sea, the
shore, the mountain eyrie, and of breathing, living entities, who deal
with Nature at first hand.... The adventures described are peculiarly
novel and interesting.... Packed with incidents, infused with humor and
wit, and faithful to the types introduced, this book will surely appeal
to the large audience already won, and beget new friends among those who
believe in fiction that is healthy without being maudlin, and is strong
without losing the truth."--_New York Herald_.
"A story filled with rapid and exciting action from the first page to
the last. A fecundity of invention that never lags, and a judiciously
used vein of humor."--_The Critic_.
"A volume of deep, undeniable charm. A unique book from a fresh, sure,
vigorous pen."--_Boston Journal_.
"Adventurous and romantic enough to satisfy the most exacting reader....
Abounds in situations which make the blood run cold, and yet, full of
surprises as it is, one is continually amazed by the plausibility of the
main incidents of the narrative.... A very successful effort to portray
the sort of adventures that might have taken place in the West Indies
seventy five or eighty years ago.... Very entertaining with its dry
humor."--_Boston Herald_.
_A HERALD OF THE WEST_. An American Story of 1811-1815. By J. A.
ALTSHELER, author of "A Soldier of Manhattan" and "The Sun of Saratoga."
12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"'A Herald of the West' is a romance of our history which has not been
surpassed in dramatic force, vivid coloring, and historical interest....
In these days when the flush of war has only just passed, the book ought
to find thousands of readers, for it teaches patriotism without
intolerance, and it shows, what the war with Spain has demonstrated
anew, the power of the American people when they are deeply roused by
some great wrong."--_San Francisco Chronicle_.
"The book throughout is extremely well written. It is condensed, vivid,
picturesque.... A rattling good story, and unrivaled in fiction for its
presentation of the American feeling toward England during our second
conflict."--_Boston Herald_.
"Holds the attention continuously.... The book abounds in thrilling
attractions.... It is a solid and dignified acquisition to the romantic
literature of our own country, built around facts and real
persons."--_Chicago Times-Herald_.
"In a style that is strong and broad, the author of this timely novel
takes up a nascent period of our national history and founds upon it a
story of absorbing interest."--_Philadelphia Item_.
"Mr. Altsheler has given us an accurate as well as picturesque portrayal
of the social and political conditions which prevailed in the republic
in the era made famous by the second war with Great Britain."--_Brooklyn
Eagle_.
BOOKS BY GILBERT PARKER.
Uniform Edition.
The Seats of the Mighty.
Being the Memoirs of Captain Robert MORAY, sometime an Officer in the
Virginia Regiment, and afterwards of Amherst's Regiment. Illustrated,
$1.50.
"Another historical romance of the vividness and intensity of 'The Seats
of the Mighty' has never come from the pen of an American. Mr. Parker's
latest work may without hesitation be set down as the best he has done.
From the first chapter to the last word interest in the book never
wanes; one finds it difficult to interrupt the narrative with breathing
space. It whirls with excitement and strange adventure.... All of the
scenes do homage to the genius of Mr. Parker, and make 'The Seats of the
Mighty' one of the books of the year."--_Chicago Record_.
"Mr. Gilbert Parker is to be congratulated on the excellence of his
latest story, 'The Seats of the Mighty,' and his readers are to be
congratulated on the direction which his talents have taken therein....
It is so good that we do not stop to think of its literature, and the
personality of Doltaire is a masterpiece of creative art."--_New York
Mail and Express_.
The Trail of the Sword. A Novel. $1.25.
"Mr. Parker here adds to a reputation already wide, and anew
demonstrates his power of pictorial portrayal and of strong dramatic
situation and climax."--_Philadelphia Bulletin_.
The Trespasser. $1.25.
"Interest, pith, force, and charm--Mr. Parker's new story possesses all
these qualities.... Almost bare of synthetical decoration, his
paragraphs are stirring because they are real. We read at times--as we
have read the great masters of romance--breathlessly."--_The Critic_.
The Translation of a Savage. $1.25.
"A book which no one will be satisfied to put down until the end has
been matter of certainty and assurance."--_The Nation_.
Mrs. Falchion. $1.25.
"A well-knit story, told in an exceedingly interesting way, and holding
the reader's attention to the end."
The Pomp of the Lavilettes. 16mo. Cloth.
"Its sincerity and rugged force will commend it to those who love and
seek strong work in fiction."--_The Critic_.
BY A. CONAN DOYLE.
Uniform edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50 per volume.
_A DUET, WITH AN OCCASIONAL CHORUS_.
"Charming is the one word to describe this volume adequately. Dr.
Doyle's crisp style and his rare wit and refined humor, utilized with
cheerful art that is perfect of its kind, fill these chapters with joy
and gladness for the reader."--_Philadelphia Press_.
"Bright, brave, simple, natural, delicate. It is the most artistic and
most original thing that its author has done.... We can heartily
recommend 'A Duet' to all classes of readers. It is a good book to put
into the hands of the young of either sex. It will interest the general
reader, and it should delight the critic, for it is a work of art. This
story taken with the best of his previous work gives Dr. Doyle a very
high place in modern letters."--_Chicago Times-Herald_.
_UNCLE BERNAC. A Romance of the Empire._
"Simple, clear, and well defined.... Spirited in movement all the way
through.... A fine example of clear analytical force."--_Boston Herald_.
_THE EXPLOITS OF BRIGADIER GERARD. A Romance of the Life of a Typical
Napoleonic Soldier._
"Good, stirring tales are they.... Remind one of those adventures
indulged in by 'The Three Musketeers.' ... Written with a dash and swing
that here and there carry one away."--_New York Mail and Express_.
_RODNEY STONE_.
"A notable and very brilliant work of genius."--_London Speaker_.
"Dr. Doyle's novel is crowded with an amazing amount of incident and
excitement.... He does not write history, but shows us the human side of
his great men, living and moving in an atmosphere charged with the
spirit of the hard-living, hard-fighting Anglo-Saxon."--_New York
Critic_.
_ROUND THE RED LAMP_.
_Being Facts and Fancies of Medical Life_.
"A strikingly realistic and decidedly original contribution to modern
literature."-_Boston Saturday Evening Gazette_.
_THE STARK MUNRO LETTERS_. Being a Series of Twelve Letters written by
STARK MUNRO, M. B., to his friend and former fellow-student, Herbert
Swanborough, of Lowell, Massachusetts, during the years 1881-1884.
"Cullingworth.... a much more interesting creation than Sherlock Holmes,
and I pray Dr. Doyle to give us more of him."--_Richard le Gallienne, in
the London Star_.
By S. R. CROCKETT.
Uniform edition. Each, 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
_THE STANDARD BEARER_. An Historical Romance.
"Mr. Crockett's book is distinctly one of _the_ books of the year. Five
months of 1898 have passed without bringing to the reviewers' desk
anything to be compared with it in beauty of description, convincing
characterization, absorbing plot and humorous appeal. The freshness and
sweet sincerity of the tale are most invigorating, and that the book
will be very much read there is no possible doubt."--_Boston Budget_.
"The book will move to tears, provoke to laughter, stir the blood, and
evoke heroisms of history, making the reading of it a delight and the
memory of it a stimulus and a joy."--_New York Evangelist_.
_LADS' LOVE_. Illustrated.
"It seems to us that there is in this latest product much of the realism
of personal experience. However modified and disguised, it is hardly
possible to think that the writer's personality does not present itself
in Saunders McQuhirr.... Rarely has the author drawn more truly from
life than in the cases of Nance and 'the Hempie'; never more typical
Scotsman of the humble sort than the farmer Peter Chrystie."--_London
Athenæum_.
_CLEG KELLY, ARAB OF THE CITY. His Progress and Adventures._
Illustrated.
"A masterpiece which Mark Twain himself has never rivaled.... If there
ever was an ideal character in fiction it is this heroic
ragamuffin."--_London Daily Chronicle_.
"In no one of his books does Mr. Crockett give us a brighter or more
graphic picture of contemporary Scotch life than in 'Cleg Kelly.' ... It
is one of the great books."--_Boston Daily Advertiser_.
_BOG-MYRTLE AND PEAT_. Third edition.
"Here are idyls, epics, dramas of human life, written in words that
thrill and burn.... Each is a poem that has an immortal flavor. They are
fragments of the author's early dreams, too bright, too gorgeous, too
full of the blood of rubies and the life of diamonds to be caught and
held palpitating in expression's grasp."--_Boston Courier_.
"Hardly a sketch among them all that will not afford pleasure to the
reader for its genial humor, artistic local coloring, and admirable
portrayal of character."--_Boston Home Journal_.
_THE LILAC SUNBONNET_. Eighth edition.
"A love story, pure and simple, one of the old fashioned, wholesome,
sunshiny kind, with a pure-minded, sound-hearted hero, and a heroine who
is merely a good and beautiful woman; and if any other love story half
so sweet has been written this year it has escaped our notice."--_New
York Times_.
"The general conception of the story, the motive of which is the growth
of love between the young chief and heroine, is delineated with a
sweetness and a freshness, a naturalness and a certainty, which places
'The Lilac Sunbonnet' among the best stories of the time."--_New York
Mail and Express_.
"_A BOOK THAT WILL LIVE_."
_DAVID HARUM_. A Story of American Life. By EDWARD NOYES WESTCOTT. 12mo.
Cloth, $1.50.
"Mr. Westcott has done for central New York what Mr. Cable, Mr. Page,
and Mr. Harris have done for different parts of the South, and what Miss
Jewett and Miss Wilkins are doing for New England, and Mr. Hamlin
Garland for the West.... 'David Harum' is a masterly delineation of an
American type.... Here is life with all its joys and sorrows.... David
Harum lives in these pages as he will live in the mind of the reader....
He deserves to be known by all good Americans; he is one of them in
boundless energy, in large-heartedness, in shrewdness, and in
humor."--_The Critic_.
"Thoroughly a pure, original, and fresh American type. David Harum is a
character whose qualities of mind and heart, eccentricities, and dry
humor will win for his creator notable distinction. Buoyancy, life, and
cheerfulness are dominant notes. In its vividness and force the story is
a strong, fresh picture of American life. Original and true, it is worth
the same distinction which is accorded the _genre_ pictures of peculiar
types and places sketched by Mr. George W. Cable, Mr. Joel Chandler
Harris, Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, Miss Wilkins, Miss Jewett, Mr. Garland,
Miss French, Miss Murfree, Mr. Gilbert Parker, Mr. Owen Wister, and Bret
Harte.... A pretty love story also adds to the attractiveness of the
book, that will be appreciated at once by every one who enjoys real
humor, strong character, true pictures of life, and work that is 'racy
of the soil.'"--_Boston Herald_.
"Mr. Westcott has created a new and interesting type.... The character
sketching and building, so far as David Harum is concerned, is well-nigh
perfect. The book is wonderfully bright, readable, and graphic."--_New
York Times_.
"The main character ought to become familiar to thousands of readers,
and will probably take his place in time beside Joel Chandler Harris's
and Thomas Nelson Page's and Miss Wilkins's creations."--_Chicago
Times-Herald_.
"We give Edward Noyes Westcott his true place in American
letters--placing him as a humorist next to Mark Twain, as a master of
dialect above Lowell, as a descriptive writer equal to Bret Harte, and,
on the whole, as a novelist on a par with the best of those who live and
have their being in the heart of hearts of American readers. If the
author is dead--lamentable fact--his book will live."--_Philadelphia
Item_.
"True, strong, and thoroughly alive, with a humor like that of Abraham
Lincoln and a nature as sweet at the core. The spirit of the book is
genial and wholesome, and the love story is in keeping with it.... The
book adds one more to the interesting list of native fiction destined to
live, portraying certain localities and types of American life and
manners."--_Boston Literary World_.
"A notable contribution to those sectional studies of American life by
which our literature has been so greatly enriched in the past
generation.... A work of unusual merit."--_Philadelphia Press_.
"One of the few distinct and living types in the American
gallery."--_St. Louis Globe-Democrat_.
"The quaint character of 'David Harum' proves to be an inexhaustible
source of amusement."--_Chicago Evening Post_.
"It would be hard to say wherein the author could have bettered the
portrait he sets before us."--_Providence Journal_.
"Full of wit and sweetness."--_Baltimore Herald_.
"Merits the heartiest and most unequivocal praise.... It is a pleasure
to call the reader's attention to this strong and most original novel, a
novel that is a decided and most enduring addition to American
literature."--_Boston Saturday Evening Gazette_.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.