The False Gods Part 7

[Ill.u.s.tration]

WHERE LOVE CONQUERS.

The Reckoning.

By Robert W. Chambers.

The author's intention is to treat, in a series of four or five romances, that part of the war for independence which particularly affected the great landed families of northern New York, the Johnsons, represented by Sir William, Sir John, Guy Johnson, and Colonel Claus; the notorious Butlers, father and son, the Schuylers, Van Rensselaers, and others.

The first romance of the series, Cardigan, was followed by the second, The Maid-at-Arms. The third, in order, is not completed. The fourth is the present volume.

As Cardigan pretended to portray life on the baronial estate of Sir William Johnson, the first uneasiness concerning the coming trouble, the first discordant note struck in the harmonious councils of the Long House, so, in The Maid-at-Arms, which followed in order, the author attempted to paint a patroon family disturbed by the approaching rumble of battle. That romance dealt with the first serious split in the Iroquois Confederacy; it showed the Long House shattered though not fallen; the demoralization and final flight of the great landed families who remained loyal to the British Crown; and it struck the key-note to the future att.i.tude of the Iroquois toward the patriots of the frontier--revenge for their losses at the battle of Oriskany--and ended with the march of the militia and continental troops on Saratoga.

The third romance, as yet incomplete and unpublished, deals with the war-path and those who followed it led by the landed gentry of Tryon County; and ends with the first solid blow delivered at the Long House, and the terrible punishment of the Great Confederacy.

The present romance, the fourth in chronological order, picks up the thread at that point.

The author is not conscious of having taken any liberties with history in preparing a framework of facts for a mantle of romance.

Robert W. Chambers.

NEW YORK, _May 26, 1904_.

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.

"A beautiful romance of the days of Robert Burns."

Nancy Stair.

A Novel. By Elinor Macartney Lane.

"With very much the grace and charm of Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of 'The Life of Nancy Stair' combines unusual gifts of narrative, characterization, color, and humor. She has also delicacy, dramatic quality, and that rare gift--historic imagination.

"'The Life of Nancy Stair' is interesting from the first sentence to the last; the characters are vital and are, also, most entertaining company; the denouement unexpected and picturesque and cleverly led up to from one of the earliest chapters; the story moves swiftly and without a hitch. Robert Burns is neither idealized nor caricatured; Sandy, Jock, Pitcairn, Danvers Carmichael, and the Duke of Borthewicke are admirably relieved against each other, and Nancy herself as irresistible as she is natural. To be sure, she is a wonderful child, but then she manages to make you believe she was a real one. Indeed, reality and naturalness are two of the charms of a story that both reaches the heart and engages the mind, and which can scarcely fail to make for itself a large audience. A great deal of delightful talk and interesting incidents are used for the development of the story. Whoever reads it will advise everybody he knows to read it; and those who do not care for its literary quality cannot escape the interest of a love-story full of incident and atmosphere."

"Powerfully and attractively written."--_Pittsburg Post_.

"A story best described with the word 'charming.'"--_Was.h.i.+ngton Post_.

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.

WIT, SPARKLING, SCINTILLATING WIT, IS THE ESSENCE OF

Kate of Kate Hall,

By Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler, whose reputation was made by her first book, "Concerning Isabel Carnaby," and enhanced by her last success, "Place and Power."

"In 'Kate of Kate Hall,' by Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler, the question of imminent concern is the marriage of super-dainty, peppery-tempered Lady Katherine Clare, whose wealthy G.o.dmother, erstwhile deceased, has left her a vast fortune, on condition that she shall be wedded within six calendar months from date of the testator's death.

"An easy matter, it would seem, for bonny Kate, notwithstanding her aptness at sharp repartee, is a morsel fit for the G.o.ds.

"The accepted suitor appears in due time; but comes to grief at the last moment in a quarrel with Lady Kate over a kiss bestowed by her upon her G.o.dmother's former man of affairs and secretary. This incident she haughtily refuses to explain. Moreover, she shatters the bond of engagement, although but three weeks remain of the fatal six months. She would rather break stones on the road all day and sleep in a pauper's grave all night, than marry a man who, while professing to love her, would listen to mean and malicious gossips picked up by tell-tales in the servants' hall.

"So the great estate is likely to be lost to Kate and her debt-ridden father, Lord Claverley. How it is conserved at last, and gloomy apprehension chased away by dazzling visions of material splendor--that is the author's well-kept secret, not to be shared here with a careless and indolent public."--_Philadelphia North American._

"The long-standing reproach that women are seldom humorists seems in a fair way of pa.s.sing out of existence. Several contemporary feminine writers have at least sufficient sense of humor to produce characters as deliciously humorous as delightful. Of such order is the Countess Claverley, made whimsically real and lovable in the recent book by Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler and A.L. Felkin, 'Kate of Kate Hall.'"--_Chicago Record-Herald._

"'Kate of Kate Hall' is a novel in which Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler displays her brilliant abilities at their best. The story is well constructed, the plot develops beautifully, the incidents are varied and brisk, and the dialogue is deliciously clever."--_Rochester Democrat and Chronicle._

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.

LOVE. MYSTERY. VENICE.

The Clock and the Key.

By Arthur Henry Vesey.

This is a tale of a mystery connected with an old clock. The lover, an American man of means, is startled out of his sensuous, inactive life in Venice by his lady-love's scorn for his indolence. She begs of him to perform any task that will prove his persistence and worth. With the charm of Venice as a background, one follows the adventures of the lover endeavoring to read the puzzling hints of the old clock as to the whereabouts of the famous jewels of many centuries ago. After following many false clues the lover ultimately solves the mystery, triumphs over his rivals, and wins the girl.

AMERICA.

"For an absorbing story it would be hard to beat."--_Harper's Weekly._