Ros Rediviva

Delina Delaney, By Amanda M. Ras. (Chatto and Windus.

7s.' 6d. )

•

SOME years ago a publisher, with a rare sense of what was fitting and just, rescued Irene Iddesleigh, one of the novels of •

the gifted Mrs. Amanda McKittrick Ros, from the mists of

undeserved oblivitin. Yet not total oblivion : for, here and there,, among the grateful or the illustrious, her garlands were kept green. I remember one evening in the summer of 1924 listening to A. E. as, at his home in Dublin, he read aloud from this book to the enraptured company : and, so potent was the spell, that for a long time afterwards those rich periods, those sounding phrases coloured all that was thought and said, and James Stephens, telling us of the love-gestures of spiders upofil a fence at Weinbley, Was fain to echo theM as best he could, to the great enrichment of his narrative. Now yet another publisher, with an equal sense of what ip just and fitting, has rescued yet another novel by the same author, and issues it to an even wider public. Of the story X shall not tell yell much. A feir hints will-best convey to the reader of either sex the pleasures that lie before her or him. Delina, " a handsome young girl fast approaching her sixteenth birthday," (note the adverb) was the daughter of a simple fisherman. Only four pages pass before we hear him exclaim, " ' Biddy ! Biddy, darlin' ! did ye hear serames Y Oi'm blissed but. somethin' is wrang I '

And, a bare two pages later, " His remains were safely laid to rest in Slangford graveyard, which had 'Already hold so many of his ancestors, and where wo leave him to repose in peace."

So ends Chapter One. Chapter Five is entitled Delina's bcthrothal to Lord Gifford " ; Chapter Seven, " Lord Gifford takes Delina to Clapham Hall " : Chapter Ten; " Lord Gifford's Death-blow " : Chapter Twenty-three, " Attempted .poisoning of Lord Gifford and Madam-dc-Maine's Arrest " : Chapter Twenty-six, " Nurse Delaney found Guilty. Her sentence " : and Chapter. Twenty-nine, " Delina's Innocence

and Marriage."

Everything the most exacting reader could desire is here.

Eloquence :

" But,' added the priest, while the foam blew from his lips, unto the ancient covering of his trembling listener, by the holy Virgin Mary, arnt by the sacred souls of all the saints in heaven, including . I li'S, if you continue to allow your daughter to keep company with that Masonic dog, who does nothing, so far as I know or learn, but blackguard about and across the country, with his damnable emblems dangling at his watch-chain and resting on the bony fingers of his stained hands, as dupes of his sworn chastity, I'll excommu- nicate both of you, while my curse, and those of the good bishop and Pope, shall char your souls in the blackest, hottest quarters in hell ! "

Descriptive power : " Arriving at Dublin's lovely city, they wore safely dislodged, e fixing her sleepy, swollen eyes firmly on the face of Lord Ciff.i, snappod from it a laugh of satisfaction that caused her not to douLb the genuineness of his actions. She fain would have wandered all night on Dublin streets of different widths—some of them broad beyond comparison, edged with huge buildings of every form and descript,ipaz,towering„alop.toun almost interminable degree; whilst others,4nough which 1ie4seor,ted .here and,Ciffer their -fashionable sidepaths to streams. varied and continuous, of dull and lacy pedestrians, were dens, with animal ettito,.ia, gaping for a well• trimmed window of %yell -hr-10 greengrocer§ to deposit its car- bonic propensities on s.oritc of t heir pots of bloom."

D roma : " Madam-dc-Ma joy followed him, to do the ` neNlful." May take off your boots, Lord Gifford ' she asked, in at tone of mocking innoeenee.

' No, by heavens, never ! Begone, madam ! I blame you, anti you only, for all this ! Leave me alone. For God's sake, do ! As he raised his flashing eyes to hers, she saw a deep, forced passion brewing in their blazing glare."

And again :

" Whoever the party is who prepared his food, that is. the guilty party ! " • She flung a look of horror at Delina. whose face was bathed in flame ; bit her lip, stamped her foot, and was assisted out of the room by two law officers, who appeared on the scone, followed by Doctor Kenny.” Psychology :

" Dolina was unable to cast front her the weight of apprehension that dragged so heavily on her young heart. She had not yet been taught at the school of female-art-that sorrow was its sole foundation and hiding it in pleasant smiles. She sat sensitive to the fact that all eyes were upon her. Three hundred pair or so of such excited orbs flashing their gifted light on and over her, could hardly fail to provoke her gentle nature, draw ter inward feeling§ to a nervous tenor, dancing in their cells of seclusion until their unstrung notes issued•forth lathe form of deep-drawn sighs, This picture of charm- ing loveliness, as she sat, the imago of simplicity, had by her undis- puted wealth of enviable beauty drawn noiselessly upon her the silent. comments of the lettered tools of graded lore that riveted the benches designed for opposing talent, behind which she tremulously rested."

But enough. No such story, it is safe to say, has appeared