On the Threshold. By Isabella 0. Ford. (Edward Arnold.)— This
is a fairly successful novel with a purpose, perhaps because the writer, though she is very much in earnest, has a certain amount of humour which enables her at all events to grasp the comic aspect of certain serious situations. Starting with Walt Whitman's declaration that "Amelioration is one of the earth's words," and with Stevenson's theory that " My duty to my neigh- bour " is expressed " by saying that I have to make him happy if I may," the writer of this story tells how two young girls, estab- lished in lodgings in Bloomsbury—the one a student of music, the other a student of art—set themselves to " ameliorate " the condition of Beatrice Ratcliffe, their landlady's maid-of-all. work. She is not a very promising subject to begin with, for she is short and stunted, with a pale flat face, small brown eyes that occasionally twinkled with a knowing expression, a broad, turned- up nose, and extremely rough, red hands. She is clumsy, and gives constant annoyance to her " young mistresses," not to speak of their landlady, who is in all respects, however, a good deal worse than herself. The two girls continue, nevertheless, to " ameliorate " Beatrice to some extent, and even with a certain amount of success, though in the long-run she dies of a blow given her by the bratal ruffian whom, in her odd way, she loves. The girls have, however, some interesting subjects to exercise their " ameliorating" powers, directly or indirectly, upon, such as Miss Burton, Mr. Estcourt, and " Mat." The story, such as it is, has no particular ending,—at all events, it does not end in marriage. But it is bright, and full of the enthusiasm of humanity, from the first cup of tea to the last. The author of On the Threshold could undoubtedly write a good novel,—and one without a purpose.
Previous page
