truth that seems to form each phrase and sentence,
to comprehend all, down to the least detail; and a thorough reading of
the book leaves one with the sense of physical fatigue, as if the
reader himself had experienced the violent and terrible ordeals of the
soul that were the portions of the actors in this drama of the African
desert.

* * * * *

Whether or not it would have been wiser for Mr. E. Temple Thurston to
have published his new book, "The Apple of Eden"--Dodd, Mead &
Co.--under a _nom de plume_, is largely, if not wholly, a commercial
question. Those who have shown a disposition to belittle it on account
of the interesting but irrelevant fact that he is the husband of the
author of "The Masquerader," have exhibited small powers of
discrimination and missed an opportunity to do justice to a remarkable
book, for such it unquestionably is.

The book is a very keen study of character; one of the sort that could
be made only by a close observer of human nature, accustomed to the
analysis of motives and to the due apportionment of their elements.

It is the story of the evolution of a young priest from an
inexperienced celibate to a fully developed man, by which phrase is
meant spiritually and intellectually developed by the desperate method
of temptation.

Father Everett embraced the priesthood and committed himself by
irrevocable vows with all the enthusiasm of ignorant youth and without
the slightest comprehension of the significance of his manhood. He
naturally, under such circumstances, never questioned his fitness to
advise and rebuke and absolve sinners. But with the appearance of the
woman, another and hitherto unrecognized side of his nature began to
stir, and his torture was prepared. That his love for Roona Lawless
was reciprocated, instead of bringing them joy, only added to the
horror of their situation, and it was well for them both that the man
had access to the shrewd kindliness and the worldly wisdom of his
vicar, Father Michael.

The old priest showed his surprise when the climax of his curate's
confession brought out the fact that the latter's transgression was
limited to the exchange of a kiss, and when the young man exclaimed:
"Glory be to God, wasn't it enough?" the other replied, dryly: "Faith,
it's well you found it so."

It is, to be sure, an old enough story. But its merit is that it is
told with a vigor and a dramatic insight that makes it read lik