about the dreadful time I had in the rising!" which she would then
vivaciously proceed to do; and not only that, but all about the
dreadful time (the same dreadful time) that all her friends had in
the same rising, chapters of it, so that in the end it might be six
o'clock or later before you got away. I hope this is not an unfair
_résumé_ of the impression produced upon me by Miss ISOBEL MOUNTAIN'S
prattling pages. To sum up, if you have an insatiable curiosity for
the small talk of other people's travel, _A Maiden in Malaya_ may not
prove too much for it. If otherwise, otherwise.

* * * * *

I wish Col. JOHN BUCHAN could have been jogging Mrs. A.C. INCHBOLD'S
elbow while she was writing _Love and the Crescent_ (HUTCHINSON), All
the essential people in his _Greenmantle_, which deals, towards the
end at any rate, with just about the same scenes and circumstances as
her story, are so confoundedly efficient, have so undeniably learnt
the trick of making the most of their dashing opportunities. In Mrs.
INCHBOLD's book the trouble is that with much greater advantages in
the way of local knowledge and with all manner of excitement, founded
on fact, going a-begging, nothing really thrilling or convincing
ever quite materialises. The heroine, Armenian and beautiful, is
as ineffective as the hero, who is French and heroic, both of them
displaying the same unfortunate tendency to be carried off captive by
the other side and to indulge in small talk when they should be most
splendid. And the majority of the other figures follow suit. On the
face of it the volume is stuffed with all the material of melodrama;
but somehow the authoress seems to strive after effects that don't
come naturally to her. What does come naturally to her is seen in a
background sketch of the unhappy countries of Asia Minor in the hands