and we cannot imagine anything she may or may not do as affecting
anyone very seriously. Dick's wrestle with his picture is another
matter. He and his friends may talk a great deal of nonsense about
their work (nonsense which would strictly require us to condemn every
good page which Mr Kipling has written), but there is no doubt whatever
that the enthusiasm of men for men's work is the vital and moving
principle of _The Light That Failed_. The motive of the whole story is
the motive of _The Bridge-Builders_. The rest is merely accessory.

_The Light That Failed_ is full of instruction for the close critic of
Mr Kipling. We discover in it three out of the many levels of
excellence in which he moves. First there is a cunning artificer
pretending to a knowledge and admiration which he does not really
possess--an artificer who tries to impose Maisie and the Red-Haired
Girl upon us in the same deceiving way as the way in which he tried to
impose upon us Mrs Hawksbee and the Copleigh girls. Second, there is a
clever writer of soldier stories, showing us some nasty fighting at
close range, with a far too elaborate pretence that he can take it all
for granted as a professional combatant. Finally there is an inspired
author celebrating the world's work--an author we have agreed to put in
a higher rank than those other literary experts who have quite
unjustifiably stolen his greener laurels.




VII

THE FINER GRAIN