But of its power there can be no question.
On one small point of psychology I am at issue with the writer. I doubt
whether the child _Louise_ could have played _Arthur_ in the school
theatricals so marvellously as we are asked to believe without cheering
herself, by such an artistic success, out of the temptation to suicide. But
the ways of morbidity are unsearchable, and this is no more than an
expression of individual opinion. It is not meant to qualify my admiration
for the skill of this remarkable and arresting story.
* * * * *
If the long postponement of the appearance of another novel--_Vesprie
Towers_ (SMITH, ELDER)--by the late Mr. THEODORE WATTS-DUNTON, means (I am
careful not to say it does) that the author never intended it to see the
light of day, honesty obliges one to admit that there may have been wisdom
in that decision, for the story of _Violet Vesprie_, though touched with a
certain charm and distinction, sadly lacks the imaginative intensity of
_Aylwin_. The plot is commonplace, being the familiar record of how the
country seat of a once illustrious family nearly, but of course not quite,
passed into the hands of strangers when the last of the race came to
poverty.
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