er. She had,
it appeared, married a gentleman called _Paul Enderby_, only to learn
after the ceremony that her husband had a twin-brother _Saul_, who must
have been the twinniest twin that ever breathed, since at no moment
could any living soul tell the two apart. I won't harrow you with
details, but the confusion was such that, even after the unlamented
decease of _Paul_, poor bewildered _Mrs. Enderby_ was by no means sure
that she wasn't only a bereaved sister-in-law. Her sad plight reminded
me of nothing so much as that of the lady in _Engaged_ who entreated to
have three questions answered: "Am I a widow, and if so how came I to be
a widow, and whose widow came I to be?" The great difference between the
two cases is that this of _Mrs. Enderby_ is meant to be taken with
solemnity--a task that I regret to add was too heavy for me. I am only
sorry that so charming a title as _The Double House_ has been so sadly
wasted.

* * *

If a wicked male novelist had dared to write _Jacynth_ (CONSTABLE) I
tremble to imagine the things that certain fair critics would have said
about him. But since a woman is the creator, and one, moreover, with the
well-won reputation of Miss STELLA CALLAGHAN, what is there to say?
After all she must know. As a portrait of futility, _Jacynth_ is the
most mercilessly realistic thing that I have met for some time. Pretty,
brainless, egotistical, utterly unable ever to understand even the least
of the men who loved her--this was _Jacynth_. The picture is so
unsparing that (though I am not calling the book a masterpiece or free
from dull moments) the very completeness of the dreadful thing
fascinates you unwillingly. _Jacynth_ was the typical product of a
seaside town, where she was adored by two men--a young squire and a
famous novelist. I was just a little bored by her beginnings, especially
when she sprained her ankle--a gambit I had imagined _demode_ even with
the most provincial of heroines. However, _Jacynth_ married the
novelist, and after the honeymoon settled down to a steady course of
fatuousness and general interference with his work which presently
reduced the poor man to exasperation, and finally constrained him to
pack her off on a prolonged visit to the seaside home of her maidenhood.
After that _Jacynth_ went from worse to worst; too preposterous a fool
even to be greatly moved when she brought tragedy into the lives of
those who came under her malign influence. I will not fol