* * * * *
If I had to select an author likely to win the long-distance dialogue
race of the British Isles I should, after reading _Uncle Lionel_
(GRANT RICHARDS), unhesitatingly vote for Mr. S.P.B. MAIS. It is not
however so much the verbosity as the gloom of Mr. MAIS'S characters
that leaves me fretful. Nowadays, when a novel begins with a married
hero and heroine, we should be sadly archaic if we expected the course
of their conjugal love to run smoothly; but I protest that _Michael_
and _Patricia_ overdid their quarrels, or, at any rate, that we are
told too many details about them. And when these people were nasty to
each other they could be very horrid. All which would not trouble me
half so much if I were not sure that Mr. MAIS, in his desire to he
forceful and modern, is inflicting a quite unnecessary handicap upon
himself. At present he is in peril of wrecking his craft upon some
dangerous rocks which (though I know it's not the right name for
rocks) I will call "The Doldrums." My advice to him is to cheer up.
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