and treatment. There is indeed more than a hint of the BRONTË touch
about the Ex-Mill Girl. For that and other things I send her (whoever
she is) my felicitations and good wishes.

* * * * *

I wonder if Mr. (or Mrs. or Miss) E.K. WEEKES would understand me if I
put my verdict upon _The Massareen Affair_ (ARNOLD) into the form of
a suggestion that in future its author would be well advised to keep
quiet. Not with any meaning that he or she should desist from the
pursuit of fiction; on the contrary, there are aspects of _The
Massareen Affair_ that are more than promising--vigorous and
unconventional characters, a gift of lively talk, and so on. But all
this only operates so long as the tale remains in the calm waters of
the ordinary; later, when it puts forth upon the sea of melodrama, I
am sorry to record that this promising vessel comes as near shipwreck
as makes no difference. To drop metaphor, the group of persons
surrounding the unhappily-wedded _Anthony Massareen_--_Claudia_, who
attempts to rescue him and his two boys, the boys themselves, and the
clerical family whose fortunes are affected by their proximity to
the _Massareens_--all these are well and credibly drawn. But when
we arrive at the fanatic wife of _Anthony_, in her Welsh castle,
surrounded by rocks and blow-holes, and finally to that last great
scene, where (if I followed events accurately) she trusses her
ex-husband like a fowl, and trundles him in a wheel-barrow to the pyre
of sacrifice, not the best will in the world could keep me convinced
or even decorously thrilled. So I will content myself with repeating
my advice to a clever writer in future to ride imagination on the
curb, and leave you to endorse this or not as taste suggests.