Rev. J. J. Meldon in new situations. Major Kent expects from Australia a grown-up niece, who turns out to be a naughty little girl of ten. Mr. Meldon had made innumerable plans for the reception and treatment of the young lady. How does he face the new situation? There are capital minor characters—Doyle the hotel keeper, and Father MacCormack, and the housekeeper, Mrs. O’Halloran.
⸺ THE SIMPKINS PLOT. Pp. 384. (Nelson). 2s. net. (N.Y.: Doran). 1.20. 1911.
Scene: “Ballymoy.” Problem: how to get rid of Simpkins, a meddlesome busybody. The interest of the plot mainly turns on the amusing manœuvres of Rev. J. J. Meldon (the hero of Spanish Gold) to marry Simpkins to a mysterious “Miss King,” a lady supposed to be identical with a Mrs. Lorimer, recently acquitted, against the opinion of the Judge, of the murder of her husband. Full throughout of fun, clever talk, and deftly sketched character study. Sabina Gallagher, Sir Gilbert Hawksby, and Major Kent are all well done, and there is no mistaking the nationalities.
⸺ THE INVIOLABLE SANCTUARY. Pp. 370. (Nelson). 2s. 1912.
How Frank Mannix comes for vacation to Rosnacree (in the wildest west of Ireland) in all the glory and dignity of a Haileybury prefect. How, owing to a sprained ankle, he is obliged to spend the time sailing in the bay with Priscilla, his fifteen-year-old madcap cousin. How various exciting adventures follow, including the finding, in most unexpected and comical circumstances, by a Cabinet Minister of his daughter, who had eloped with a clergyman, and how Frank and Priscilla were responsible for the reconciliation. Told with all the Author’s sense of fun and flair for comic situations. But why must all Irish peasants appear as liars?
⸺ THE RED HAND OF ULSTER. Pp. 318. (Smith, Elder). 6s. Cheap ed., 6d. 1912.
How an Irish-American millionaire runs a revolution in Ireland, sweeping into his plans the rabid Orangemen, who are in deadly earnest, the Tory M.P. who only meant to bluff, and members of the Irish Tory aristocracy who meant nothing in particular. Of this class is poor Lord Kilmore, who tells the story, and was an unwilling actor in the whole business. The book is a mixture of shrewd satire (e.g., Babberley, M.P., the Dean, and McConkey) in which all parties receive their share, and of Gilbertian extravaganza. The dénouement is both amusing and unexpected.
⸺ DOCTOR WHITTY. Pp. 320. (Methuen). 6s. 1913.
Types and humours of a west Connaught village—the P.P., the Protestant Rector, Colonel Beresford, Thady Glynn, proprietor of “The Imperial Hotel,” chairman of the League, and popular demagogue, J.P., general philosopher, and “ipse dixit” of the village, and then the Doctor himself, genial, sociable, “all things to all men” to an extent that gets him into fixes, and that is not easily reconcilable with the moral order. There are broadly comical situations from which the Doctor extricates himself, and emerges radiant as ever. The seamy side of Irish life is depicted in the Author’s usual vein of satire.