f growing, upon _Edwin_ especially. He seems never able to
share my own entire confidence in Mr. BENNETT'S efficiency as creator.
Of course nothing very much happens in the course of _These Twain_
(METHUEN). It is simply a study of conjugal existence in its effect upon
character; briefly, how to be happy though married. In the end _Edwin_
seems to hit upon a sort of solution with the discovery that injustice
is a natural condition to be accepted rather than resented. So one
leaves the two with some prospect, a little insecure, of happiness.
Needless to say the study of both _Edwin_ and _Hilda_ is marvellously
penetrating and minute, almost to the point of defeating its own end. I
had, not for the first time with Mr. BENNETT'S characters, a feeling
that I knew them too well to have complete belief in them. They become
not portraits but anatomical diagrams. But for all that the accuracy of
his observation is undeniable. One sees it in those minor personalities
of the tale whom he is content to record from without. _Auntie Hamps_,
for example, and Clara are two masterpieces of portraiture. You must
read _These Twain_; but if possible take time over it.

* * * * *

American improvements are the wonder of the world. America seems to have
the knack of taking hold of old stuff and turning it into something full
of pep and punch. You remember a play called _Hamlet_? No? Well, there
is a scene in it, rather an impressive scene, where a man chats with his
father's ghost. Mr. ROBERT W. CHAMBERS, America's brightest novelist,
has taken much the same idea and put a bit of zip in it. In his latest
work, _Athalie_ (APPLETON), the heroine, who is clairvoyant, sees the
ghost of the hero's mother, who prevented the hero from marrying her,
and cuts it. "A hot proud colour flared in her cheeks as she drew
quietly aside and stood with averted head to let her pass." In all my
researches in modern fiction I cannot recall a more dramatic and
satisfying situation. It is, I believe, the first instance on record of
a spectre being snubbed. SHAKSPEARE never thought of anything like that.
As regards the other aspects of _Athalie_, the book, I cannot see what
else a reviewer can say but that it is written by Mr. CHAMBERS. The
world is divided into those who read every line Mr. CHAMBERS writes,
irrespective of its merits, and those who would require to be handsomely
paid before reading a paragraph by him. A million eage